The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0472  Friday, 13 July 2007

From: 		Bill Lloyd <
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Date: 		Thursday, 12 Jul 2007 22:30:45 EDT
Subject: 18.0449 Macbeth and Middleton
Comment: 	Re: SHK 18.0449 Macbeth and Middleton

When I was at the SAA in San Diego in April I saw at the Oxford 
University Press table some galleys for the forthcoming Oxford 
Middleton, and spent a bit of time browsing the introduction. One of the 
things I saw that interested me was the introduction to Macbeth in which 
Gary Taylor presented arguments for Middleton's revision of that play. 
Not having a photographic memory I can't cite chapter and verse (so as a 
reply to the original SHAKSPER query this is unsatisfactory-"Just you 
wait!"), but I found the arguments plausible.

If I recall, he argued that, although the play as we have it is mostly 
by Shakespeare, Middleton's intervention went beyond just interpolating 
the Hecate scenes, and extended to composing a few passages to cover 
omitted material; and compressing some action at the beginning of the 
play, incorporating some Shakespearean writing into the 'new' 
composition so that some passages are of composite authorship. The 
Oxford guy said the Middleton Works was now due in late 2007, so we'll 
soon see.

Bill Lloyd

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