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Post by shaxper on May 7, 2002 20:36:22 GMT -5
Did a bit of research on this today. I thought it would be helpful to know about this, since the two versions have some very large differences. Here's a summary of how David Bevington (editor of the Oxford World's Classics edition) breaks it down:
A1 Quarto version (1601): The earliest edition of the text available, published with numerous mistakes and revisions included. In 3.2, Mephistophales apparently enters and turns the clowns into beasts twice. There is also a different ending, and includes the indecisive stage directions in 5.1, "Enter Faustus with two or three scholars".
A Text (1604): A surprisingly short version of the play with a few remaining mistakes (ex. the two comic scenes were placed one after the other, when they should probably be staggered), but recent research has apparently proven that the A text was taken from an authentic manuscript written by Marlowe and an unknown collaberator. Note: some editiors of the A text have rearranged the comic scenes (as is the case with the OWC edition), so if your 3.2 (act 3, scene 2) doesn't match someone else's, try the next scene or two over in either direction).
B Text (1616): Originally believed to be the more authentic one because it contains numerous scenes and a total of 676 lines that don't appear in the A text, while the A text only contains 36 lines not included in B. However, there is evidance that Phillip Henslowe (owner of the Rose Theatre) paid two playwrights to revise and add to Faustus in 1611. It's logical to assume that the B text was the fruit of their labor.
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