ABSTRACT
If there was an overarching theme to Shakespearean scholarship in 2012 and 2013, it was collaboration. The essay that follows aims to address the events and conversations that drew our attention through the year – from the impact of Britain’s World Shakespeare Festival, hosted in conjunction with the Summer Olympic Games, to the critical controversies over his lost play, Cardenio; from the contributions of stationers and booksellers to Shakespeare’s reputation as a “literary dramatist” to the digital humanities initiatives that are reimagining the London of Shakespeare’s day. Nearly all of the works surveyed below reflect in some way upon the collaborative relationships and communities that have shaped, or continue to shape, Shakespeare’s work as we know it. Eighteen books and two digital projects are considered, but it seems most appropriate to begin, in this case, with a cultural event that drew international attention to the city where Shakespeare made his name more than four hundred years ago.
