The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Textual Studies. Ed. Lukas Erne (The Arden Shakespeare Handbooks). London: Bloomsbury, 2021.

• Darren Freebury-Jones

In 1985, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organized Live Aid, a groundbreaking, collaborative, global music event featuring the brightest stars in 1980s pop culture. In the field of Shakespearean textual studies, the publication of The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Textual Studies represents a similar behemoth event, consisting of a range of international contributors, including some of the world’s most eminent Shakespeare scholars, and edited by a doyen of textual studies: Lukas Erne.
The collection succeeds in providing, as Erne puts it, “a thorough grounding in Shakespearean textual studies”, and it is an ideal reference work for university students as well as early and established scholars. The contributors engage with textual scholarship both old and new, showcasing exciting work in the field, as is demonstrated in Claire M. L. Bourne’s survey of methodological developments. Bourne acknowledges that “every resource has its shortcomings, and no method is one-size fits all” but points out potential fruitful avenues pertaining to the “landscape of textual studies”.