How much of a Shakespeare Geek does it make me, if --

[capri0mni]

Even though I already own a paperback edition of Much Ado About Nothing (Bantam Books, 1980 -- reprinted 1993 [to take advantage of Kenneth Branagh's film]), I am sorely tempted to buy another -- namely, the Arden Shakespeare (third series) edition, 2005.

This, specifically, is the paragraph that's tempting me (Publisher's description on Amazon):

This edition of the play offers in its introduction and commentary an extensive discussion of the materials that informed Shakespeare's compositional choices, both those conventional sources and other contexts, from cuckold jokes to conduct books, which inform the ideas and identities of this play. Particular attention is devoted to Renaissance understandings of gender identity and social rank, as well as to the social valences of Shakespeare's stylistic choices. Among the elements of structure and style discussed are the two concurrent plots, the recurrence of verbal handshakes, and the use of music. A treatment of staging possibilities offers illustrations drawn from the earliest and recent theatrical practices, and a critical history examines the fate of the play in the changing trends of academic scholarship.

Gender identity and social rank -- Yes, Please! It's kind of hard to miss that the shame of premarital sex is seen as worthy of death in the Governor's daughter, Hero, but only gets a "tut-tut" and "you really should make better choices when it comes to your boyfriends," for Hero's lady-in-waiting, Margaret (who is my second favorite character, after Beatrice).

Cuckold jokes -- Ooh! Certainly Yes, Please!

"Verbal handshakes" -- saying "Yes!" to this is like saying Yes to ice cream...

Sigh -- such a geek

Comments

[smw]

All that extra material is swoon-worthy. Feeling that way might raise your Shakespeare Geekery score, but I feel like having two copies of a well-liked text isn't greatly unusual. At least when you have the space to keep it in.

(Imagine this last said mournfully. Two more years and I'll have to cut down what library I have to ship it back to the East Coast, so in the meanwhile collecting more is foolishness.)

[capri0mni]

Unfortunately, I am already surrounded by books which have no shelves to go home to... (can't bring myself to part with my parents' collected library). On the other hand, my local library has (or at least had) a wall of shelves for paperbacks in need of a good home. So I could bring the volume I've already read there... (or I could just leave it somewhere, for someone else to find, with a note 'This book's for you, if you want it.')