Not the Year's Work in English Studies

From 2000 to 2016 I wrote the "Shakespeare: Editions and Textual Studies" annual review for the Year's Work in English Studies published by Oxford University Press. In 2016 I was asked to stand down and so gave up the review, but I continue to attempt to read and evaluate everything published in this field. Since the discipline of formally reviewing scholarship is the best way to make sense of it, I decided to continue writing an annual review and to self-publish it here on my website.

My friend Ed Pechter served as my editor for this review from NYWES for 2015 to NYWES for 20218, saving me from dozens hundreds of infelicities and improving the sense in many places. Ed died on 10 February 2023. Subsequent reviews will be the worse for lack of his contribution.

I would be interested to hear from any readers who find this review useful. The books reviewed in whole or in part are listed at the end of the review. Journal articles are cited parenthetically and using the abbreviations listed below.

NYWES reviews available:

NYWES for 2019 (published in 2023)
NYWES for 2018 (published in 2021)
NYWES for 2017 (published in 2019)
NYWES for 2016 (published in 2018)
NYWES for 2015 (published in 2017)

YWES reviews available:

YWES for 2014 (published in 2016)
YWES for 2013 (published in 2015)
YWES for 2012 (published in 2014)
YWES for 2011 (published in 2013)
YWES for 2010 (published in 2012)
YWES for 2009 (published in 2011)
YWES for 2008 (published in 2010)
YWES for 2007 (published in 2009)
YWES for 2006 (published in 2008)
YWES for 2005 (published in 2007)
YWES for 2004 (published in 2006)
YWES for 2003 (published in 2005)
YWES for 2002 (published in 2004)
YWES for 2001 (published in 2003)
YWES for 2000 (published in 2002)
YWES for 1999 (published in 2001)

Journal-name abbreviations used in NYWES and YWES:

American Notes and Queries = ANQ
Analytical and Enumerative Bibliography = AEB
Ben Jonson Journal = BJJ
College Literature = CollL
Comparative Drama = CompD
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities = DSH
Early Modern Literary Studies = EMLS
Eighteenth-Century Fiction = ECF
English Language and Linguistic = ELL
English Literary History = ELH
English Literary Renaissance = ELR
English Studies = ES
Hamlet Studies = HSt
Huntington Library Quarterly = HLQ
Journal of English and German Philology = JEGP
Journal of Medieval and and Early Modern Studies = JMEMS
Literary and Linguistic Computing = L&LC
Medium AEvum = MAE
Modern Language Notes = MLN
Modern Language Review = MLR
Modern Philology = MP
Notes and Queries = N&Q
Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America = PBSA
Philological Quarterly = PQ
Publications of the Modern Language Association of America = PMLA
Research Opportunities in Medieval and Renaissance Drama = ROMRD
Review of English Studies = RES
Shakespeare Bulletin = ShakB
Shakespeare Newsletter = ShN
Shakespeare Quarterly = SQ
Shakespeare Survey = ShSurv
Spenser Studies = SSt
Studia Neophilologica: A Journal of Germanic and Romance Languages and Literature = SN
Studies in Bibliography = SB
Studies in Philology = SP
TEXT: An Interdisciplinary Annual of Textual Studies = TEXT
Textual Cultures: Texts, Contexts, Interpretation = Textual Cultures
The Sixteenth-Century Journal = SCJ
The Times Literary Supplement = TLS
Theatre Notebook = TN
Times Literary Supplement = TLS
Yearbook of English Studies = YES