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Othello: New Critical Essays. Edited by PHILIP C. KOLIN. New York and London: Routledge, 2002. Pp. xii + 458. Illus. $110.00 cloth.
In his general editor's introduction to Routledge's Shakespeare Criticism series, Philip C, Kolin asserts that each volume in the series "strives to give readers a balanced, representative collection of the most engaging and thoroughly researched criticism on the given Shakespearean text" (xii). The volume he has edited on Othello offers some useful insights, especially in regard to performance, but it nevertheless fails to meet this exacting standard.
Let me begin with the most mundane, Kolin's anthology is marred by sloppy copyediting and inattention to detail, including numerous typographical errors-"suprising" for "surprising" (14), for example, and "realty" for "reality" (48)-and the omission of a word on page 39 that conflates Paul Robeson Jr, with his father and thus makes two sentences totally incoherent. Consistent misspelling of Barbara Hodgdon's name as Hodgson is bad enough, but Kolin also attributes one of her most important essays, "Kiss Me Deadly; or, The Des/Demonized Spectacle," to me (86). Kolin's responsibility for these errors aside, Routledge should have realized that an expensive volume intended for libraries should set a better example for our students.
A few of the essays collected here are indeed engaging and thoroughly researched, including Kolin's own introduction. Although his useful overview of Othello in criticism and...