This volume includes the text of Twelfth Night as prepared and annotated by David Swain for The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, and is accompanied by the excellent introduction and supplementary materials from the anthology. The diverse and extensive appendices acquaint readers with Shakespeare's sources and contextualize the play within Elizabethan society. The appendices include an excerpt from Barnabe Riche's "Of Apollonius and Silla," Shakespeare’s primary source of inspiration for the play; selections from Galen, Plato, and others illustrating Elizabethan attitudes toward gender and sexuality; excerptions illuminating contemporary moral discomfort with the theatre, such as Philip Stubbes’s "Of Stage-plays and Interludes, with their wickedness"; and pieces on music and duelling that illustrate cultural conventions important to the interpretation of Twelfth Night.

This is one of several Broadview Anthology of British Literature Editions being released this year; those wishing to teach the text will have the option of including the convenient stand-alone book as part of a specially-priced shrink-wrapped package together with a volume of the anthology.

Comments on BABL:

"Broadview's recent Anthology of British Literature is an exciting achievement. Broadview has accomplished what no other anthology to date has been able to do…. Its introductory essays and useful appendices successfully reflect current scholarship while remaining student-centered…. With an impressive selection of literary works, an equally impressive collection of visual images, and an exemplary emphasis on print culture and history of the language, The Broadview Anthology not only rivals the Norton and the Longman, it sets a new standard by which all other anthologies of British literature will now have to be measured." – Graham Hammill, University of Notre Dame on The Broadview Anthology of British Literature

"The simple fact is that a major work of student-centered scholarship has arrived in the field of English studies, and The Broadview Anthology of British Literature is no mere pretender to the throne long held by the Norton: it is the new standard." – Richard Nordquist, Armstrong Atlantic State University on The Broadview Anthology of British Literature

Contributing Editor David Swain is an Associate Professor of English at Southern New Hampshire University and is the co-editor of Tudor England: An Encyclopedia (2001).

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Introduction

Twelfth Night, or What You Will

In Context

Appendix A: Performance and Sources

1. From John Manningham, Diary
2. From Barnabe Riche, "Of Apollonius and Silla"

Appendix B: Gender and Sexuality

1. From Plato, The Symposium
2. From Galen, De Usu Partium
3. From Helkiah Crooke, Microcosmographia
4. From William Shakespeare, Sonnets: Sonnet 20
5. From Michel de Montaigne, "Of Friendship"

Appendix C: Theater and Society

1. From Philip Stubbes, "Of Stage-plays and Interludes, with their wickedness"
2. From William Rankins, A Mirror of Monsters
3. From William Gager, Letter to Dr. John Rainolds
4. From King James I, The King Majesty’s Declaration to His Subjects concerning Lawful Sports to be Used

Appendix D: Music and the Passions

1. From Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Mind in General
2. From Sir Thomas Wyatt, "Ah Robin," manuscript
3. From William Shakespeare, King Lear

Appendix E: Dueling

1. From Vincentio Saviolo, Vincentio Saviolo his Practice. The First Book
2. From Vincentio Saviolo, Of Honor and Honorable Quarrels. The Second Book