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102Comparative Drama Steven Urkowitz. Shakespeare's Revision of King Lear. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1980 (Paperback ed., 1987). Pp. 170. $11.50. This volume is an unrevised paperback reprint of the hard cover edition of 1980, at about half the original price and therefore welcome to individual purchasers. The book is an admirable contribution to the attempts of, alas, a minority of scholars who have recently been trying to see Shakespeare's plays as his original audience must have seen them. That is, they view the texts as scripts to be performed on the Elizabethan stage rather than as "dramatic poems" or "literary artifacts." Urkowitz has taken on the textual critics and modern editors of King Lear who, dissatisfied with the "bad Quarto" of 1608 and yet unhappy with the fact that some good scenes and speeches in it are missing from the 1623 Folio, have produced a composite version which includes those missing lines as well as some 100 lines in the Folio which are not in the Quarto. Urkowitz tries to show that the Quarto, despite considerable confusion in the printed copy, represents a very actable version of the play, and that the Folio version is probably Shakespeare's own revision of this to produce an even more effective play: "None of the modern composite editions makes as strong a dramatic statement as either of the two early texts" (p. 111). By comparing and contrasting portions of Lear in both versions, Urkowitz shows how combining the two confuses both the dramatic action and the characterization, and even introduces some contradictions. As one extended example, the longest chapter in the book examines the role of Albany, showing how Shakespeare changes his character from a very sympathetic and strong leader to one less sympathetic and less decisive, a person who makes choices or who fails to act in ways which contribute to the final tragedy. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with his analysis of Albany's character, what does come clear—and what does not show up in a modern composite edition—is that Shakespeare, having altered history by killing off Lear and all his daughters at once, was faced with a decision as to who is to restore order and become the next king. He seems to have changed his mind from Albany in QI to Edgar in Fl, Albany's role in the final scene being lessened and Edgar's strengthened. While Albany does politely offer the crown to Kent and Edgar in the Quarto, he is still "in charge" when the play ends. In the Folio version, Albany offers the crown to Kent and Edgar; Kent declines, Edgar does not decline, and it is Edgar who takes charge and has the final lines in the play. Throughout the book, Urkowitz has consistently tried to see the two versions of Lear as stage dramas, requiring not merely recitation of great poetry but the actions and reactions of the performers. He considers, for example, the dramatic effect of the changes Shakespeare made in exits and entrances—and of several added interrupted exits—to show that the playwright did indeed know what he was doing in his revision, even if this meant cutting out some 300 lines of the Quarto text. Although one may not always agree with Urkowitz's suggestions about the dramatic effect of the variants, he has certainly made his points, that both the Quarto and FoUo texts are based upon perfectly viable acting scripts, that Reviews103 the Folio is a deliberate revision, and that modern composite editions obscure the changes which Shakespeare intended. JOHN WASSON Washington State University Critical Essays on Edward Albee, ed. Philip C. Kolin and J. Madison Davis. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1986. Pp. ix + 222. $35.00. Conversations with Edward Albee, ed. Philip C. Kolin. Jackson and London : University Press of Mississippi, 1988. Pp. xxix + 223. $26.95; paperbound, $15.95. Playwright Edward Albee, now more than sixty years old, may still have some surprises in store for us, but the basic shape of his career is established. The critical perspective and the ready access to important material provided in the two books under review are therefore entirely...

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