Double Falsehood: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author), Brean Hammond (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Arden Shakespeare | Publication Date: May 17, 2010

On December 1727 an intriguing play called Double Falshood; Or, The Distrest Lovers was presented for production by Lewis Theobald, who had it published in January 1728 after a successful run at the TheatreRoyal, Drury Lane, London. The title page to the published version claims that the play was 'Written Originally by W.SHAKESPEARE'.

 

Double Falsehood's plot is a version of the story of Cardenio found in Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605) as translated by Thomas Shelton, published in 1612 though in circulation earlier. Documentary records testify to the existence of a play, certainly performed in 1613, by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare, probably entitled The History of Cardenio and presumed to have been lost. The audience in 1727 would certainly have recognized stage situations and dramatic structures and patterns reminiscent of those in Shakespeare's canonical plays as well as many linguistic echoes.

 

This intriguing complex textual and performance history is thoroughly explored and debated in this fully annotated edition, including the views of other major Shakespeare scholars. The illustrated introduction provides a comprehensive overview of the debates and opinions surrounding the play and the text is fully annotated with detailed commentary notes as in any Arden edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The publication of Theobald's adaptation in the Arden Shakespeare series is to be welcomed. And even more exciting is news that ...The Royal Shakespeare Company is working on a conjectural production of the original."—Jonathan Bate, Daily Telegraph

 

"Hammond's analysis of the play seems to support Theobald's claims. Hammond says that in the work he finds the presence of three writers—Theobald, Shakespeare and John Fletcher...Hammond's claim is further bolstered when Arden Shakespeare, a highly regarded publisher of Shakespeare's works, publish[ed] an edition of the play edited by Hammond."—Christian Science Monitor

 

"Brean Hammond's lively introduction to his Arden edition of the play offers a thorough and judicious account of the relevant scholarship. His cautious conclusion is that Shakespeare had indeed collaborated with Fletcher on Cardenio and that vestiges of his handiwork remain in Double Falsehood....Hammond has made some notable discoveries...Brean Hammond's excellent edition, complete with six valuable appendices, is indispensable."—Times (of London) Literary Supplement

 

"Brilliant and unusual...the Bard's style and influence seemed irrefutable."—The Observer

 

"The prestigious Arden Shakespeare series has been making headlines...with the heavily annotated scholarly volumes [which] will include an unfamiliar title Double Falsehood...What is certain is that there are many more plays in which Shakespeare migh have had a hand."—The Scotsman

 

"For most of the three centuries since its debut, Double Falsehood has been ridiculed as a hoax or just disregarded. That changed when The Arden Shakespeare, one of the best regarded scholarly editions of Shakespeare’s plays, published Double Falsehood, endorsing its credentials and making it available for the first time in 250 years."—The Times (of London)

"The play’s ‘bardic provenance’ has been given fresh credibility by publishers Arden, who have included it in a new series of Shakespeare’s work. The publication of the play, which is bound to spark heated scholarly discussion, comes after a ten year mission to crack a literary mystery by Professor Brean Hammond, of Nottingham University."—Daily Mail

"The little-known 18th century play was propelled into the literary limelight...when it was claimed as a lost Shakespeare....Professor Brean Hammond will publish compelling new evidence that the play...is substantially based on a real Shakespeare play called Cardenio....The claim represents 10 years of literary detective work by Hammond."—The Guardian

 

"The Culture Top 10: What you must see, hear and read this month"—Town and Country Magazine

 

About the Author

Brean Hammond is Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Nottingham.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Arden Shakespeare; Third Edition edition (May 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 190343677X
• ISBN-13: 978-1903436776
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good play, excellent edition, January 26, 2011

By 

James M. Rawley - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Double Falsehood: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This is a good play that had a successful run at Drury Lane in 1728. In the following passage, the hero comments on his mistress's coolness toward him:

I do not see that fervour in the maid
Which youth and love should kindle. She consents,
As 'twere, to feed without an appetite;
Tells me she is content and plays the coy one,
Like those that subtly make their words their ward,
Keeping address at distance. This affection
Is such a feign'd one as will break untouched;
Die frosty ere it can be thawed; while mine,
Like to a clime beneath Hyperion's eye,
Burns with one constant heat.

If you like that, you'll probably like the show. Other reviewers have said the play is plainly not Shakespeare's. That's true. The theory is that Shakespeare and Fletcher did a play together, Fletcher doing most of the work, as in their other collaborations, THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN and HENRY VIII. Later, that play was rewritten by Theobald, as he himself said. An excellent introduction of more than 100 pages lays out the whole theory and resulting modern controversy.

In other words, this play is an interesting find. It has become popular recently because many lines in it may be rewritten -- or even, possibly, untouched -- Shakespeare. But it's a good play in any case. Reviewers who say it's not are, I think, overly disappointed in its not seeming more Shakespearean than it does. Theobald, who did the rewrite, is one of England's first Shakespeare scholars, arguably the very first to take a modern approach to Shakespeare editing. That sound like reading a play by him would be fun, too. And it is.

Here's another passage. The hero's girl friend has said he should stop courting her, because his own father might not like her, and so be against her marrying his son. He replies,

O do not rack me with these ill-placed doubts,
Nor think though age has in my father's breast
Put out love's flame, he therefore has not eyes,
Or is in judgement blind. You wrong your beauties.
Venus will frown if you disprize her gifts
That have a face would make a frozen hermit
Leap from his cell and burn his beads to kiss it,
Eyes, that are nothing but continual births
Of new desires in those that view their beams.
You cannot have a cause to doubt.

The notes on this passage go thoroughly into how much seems to come from 1728 and how much resembles some of Shakespeare's phrasing. It's a game anyone can play and no one can win, but in any case the passage, I think, is charming.

I like the idea of reading a good, successful play from 1728 with four notes a page covering, among other things, how many passages might be rewritten Shakespeare or rewritten Fletcher, and how many are 1728 business as usual. I'm puzzled at anyone who would give such a pleasant read one star because it appears in the Arden Shakespeare. It's good stuff no matter where it appears.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shame on Arden, May 20, 2010

By 

Constance Slings-Arrows (Northern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Double Falsehood: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This is the sort of thing one expects from self-publishers or fringe outposts of literature, not from a highly-esteemed publisher of Shakespeare's plays. One would think Arden might have learned the lesson of recent years when two major American Shakespeare publishers included a "new" Shakespeare poem in their competing editions, only to remove it when it was found to be bogus.What is so shocking about this latest effort is that its foundation for authenticity is so pathetic. Back in the 18th century, a play was put on that was based on two manuscripts from Shakespeare's day. Conveniently,the perpetrator of this 'discovery' could not produce the manuscripts.
Compounding the felony, Arden seeks to have it both ways: The introduction is sticky with cautionary qualifiers, but the cover leaves no doubt this is play is indeed part of the Arden Shakespeare series. And, by the way, the play is without a doubt one of the worst plays you'll ever read. Clumsy, wooden, dumb and just plain awful. Stupid move, Arden.

18 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes a rose by any other name IS NOT a rose!, May 18, 2010

By 

Todd Bartholomew (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Double Falsehood: Third Series (Arden Shakespeare) (Hardcover)

What led Arden Shakespeare to put out "Double Falsehood" is open to conjecture. Perhaps they genuinely wanted to spur discussion about this allegedly "new" Shakespeare play. Perhaps less charitably they simply wanted to cash in off of the controversy. But reading this dreadfully horrible prose I found myself thinking how many other businesses or brands such as Arden have come to disaster simply attempting to cash in on controversy and trends, only to find their good names demolished beyond repair. One read of "Double Falsehood" is enough to convince anyone even mildly familiar with Shakespeare that this is decidedly NOT to work of the immortal bard, but the trite clichéd work of a hack. That Arden Shakespeare, which has a great reputation within literary circles would opt to publish it is even more troubling and bizarre. Even with the lengthy introduction discussing the various arguments over whether "Double Falsehood" genuinely is Shakespeare or not the entire publication begs the question of why Arden should publish it in the first place. Isn't this a bit like the Hitler Diaries Hoax, or other Shakespeare hoaxes like the equally dreadful "Funeral Elegy" from a decade ago? The fact that neither "Double Falsehood" or for that matter "Funeral Elegy" were never performed in Shakespeare's time should alone tell you they were not from the hand of the bard, or failing that so desperately awful he never wanted them to see the light of day. Ultimately the question isn't who wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare, but that they exist and how wonderful they are. Can you really compare Othello or Hamlet to these two bits of piffle?

I hate to even ask people to read and compare "Double Falsehood" with previous Shakespeare as that would mean you would have to buy this book and I hate to see Arden rewarded for their willingness to diminish their own stature and that of Shakespeare. Suffice to say it is crap and no amount of spin or arguments in favor of it coming from the bard, however specious, can change the fact it is utter rubbish. A close reading of "Double Falsehood" with any other Shakespeare should confirm that on every level there are no similarities between the two. Shame on Arden for perpetrating this fraud!