- Title:
- "Constructing Inessential Shakespeare in the United States"
- Author:
- Bayer, Mark.
- Type:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2024
- Publication Information:
- Shakespeare (British Shakespeare Association) 20, no. 4 (2024): 527–40.
- Annotation:
Explores how two editors shaped American ideas of "essential Shakespeare": Henry Norman Hudson, whose Plays of Shakespeare Selected and Prepared for Use in Schools, Clubs, Classes, and Families (1875) dictated which plays to study in American schools; and Richard Grant White, editor of The Riverside Edition (1883), who recommended a reading order for the plays, starting with Tempest. Contends that as editors, Hudson and White "functioned as gatekeepers and set the parameters for Shakespeare studies as a recognisable academic discipline." English summary, 540.