This edition breathes new life into a play that can come across as tired and cliché, due to how frequently and superficially Romeo and Juliet are referred to in pop culture. This would be a great text to read on a computer, tablet or phone.
The side-bar menu allows the reader to see the content of the text and to navigate the text with ease. There is prefatory introductory material, the play itself, and then the supplemental materials and bibliography. It would be easy to direct students to act 2, scene 2, line 15, and the entire class should be able to find the moment in the text quickly. This edition also includes line numbers, which not all online editions do. The text of Romeo and Juliet is navigable by act and scene, which is to be expected. There is nothing unusual about how the text is presented, and I find no errors. By making it easy for readers to access editorial glosses, the experience of reading Shakespeare’s language is vastly improved for those who find his word choice and phrasing to be akin to reading a foreign language. The ease with which readers can access the editorial glosses (hover/click over the word and the gloss appears) is extremely impressive and convenient. The "sensitivity notes," which flag areas in the text that can be triggering or traumatizing for certain readers, is certainly a modern touch that does not distract from the experience of engaging with Shakespeare in any way, but that may be appreciated by sensitive readers. Like all bibliography, it will become dated over time but could be updated as new scholarship emerges. I think concerns about misogyny, racism, ableism and classism are here to stay, and that the resources this edition offers students and teachers who are interested in these topics will remain relevant. My experience reading this text was no different than reading editions published by other major publishers of Shakespeare editions. The text of Romeo and Juliet is accurate. This edition also includes resources for teachers, like bibliography, and detailed lesson plans for each act of the play. This is a comprehensive edition of Romeo and Juliet, which distinguishes itself from other open access online editions by including editorial notes. Reviewed by Jeanette Tran, Associate Professor, Drake University on 12/31/21 Journalism, Media Studies & Communications +.
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