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  • From the Editor
  • Gail Kern Paster and David Schalkwyk

Shakespeare Quarterly is at a moment of transition—not quite as momentous as when Great Britain handed Hong Kong back to China or when George Bush left the White House to Barack Obama, but significant for us. After twelve years as Editor and ably counseled by Barbara Mowat as Executive Editor, Gail Kern Paster is delighted to hand over editorial responsibilities for SQ to David Schalkwyk, who has also taken over as Folger’s Director of Research starting in July 2009. This “From the Editor” is from both of us, as Gail looks backward and David looks forward at SQ and the larger world of Shakespeare studies.

There are few jobs which can provide such intense satisfaction as that of editing SQ. In such a position, one gets the rare opportunity of reading a richly representative sample of work in the field of Shakespeare studies broadly defined, of seeking the advice of one’s esteemed colleagues, and of selecting among that sample the most promising and innovative work for publication. Because as its authors can wryly, even ruefully, attest, SQ is rigorously edited and fact-checked; part of an editor’s satisfaction comes from the chance to make a given essay as perfect and accurate as humanly possible. We are lucky to have the remarkable resources of the Folger collection readily available to us as we check manuscripts—an advantage few other scholarly publications can boast. And because we try to lead the field, as well as represent it, the intellectual challenge of selecting essays for publication is both a heady and daunting one.

While we at SQ will continue to demand the highest standards of ourselves as editors and to publish what we regard as the most significant work in contemporary Shakespeare studies, new leadership will mean new kinds of opportunities for the journal to grow and change. We invite our readers to watch for these changes and to let us know what they think of them. Salve et valete! [End Page iii]

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