To Margaret Bartley, Cengage Learning
the general editors & the volume editors
Arden Shakespeare, 3d edition
from: Susan J. Wolfson
Professor of English, Princeton University
General Editor, Longman Cultural Editions
I have recently learned, from colleagues in the US and in the UK, of Cengage Learning's egregious treatment of Professor Patricia Parker, in canceling her contract for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
I urge her reinstatement, both for the sake of the quality of the series in having this volume so expertly, incomparably managed by Patricia Parker, and for the general reputation of the series-- as scholarship and as commercial product.
Let me to speak in my own capacity as a General Editor (of Longman Cultural Editions, which includes several Shakespeare titles, some by some of the Arden editors).
In my ten years in this office, we have had just one case of a delinquent editor whose contract had to be canceled. This was someone who submitted shoddy, substandard work, ceased communicating, and (as we found out) had a reputation for disappointing publishers and colleagues with this kind of behavior. In two other cases, when over-committed professors fell behind, we redid the contracted turnover date, on the condition that they enlist a co-editor/associate editor to help manage the basic business, research and writing. This worked out quite well. Both volumes were published just a bit behind schedule, and have since been decided credits to our series.
The case of Professor Parker is scarcely analogous. She has been diligently preparing what by all accounts will be a landmark edition, a standard for decades to come, or as long as Midsummer Night's Dream exists in human culture. It is clear that she has been working hard, conscientiously, and to the highest standards, amid complications in her personal and family life, and amid all the other professional obligations that she has been managing beautifully. It has been a joy to have her as general editor of The Shakespeare Encyclopedia, a massive, multi-faceted project. This is no slacker.
What I have discerned from various reports is the delinquency, and therefore culpability, of the Arden general editors and publishers, in not communicating with Professor Parker about her numerous, utterly responsible inquiries about procedural and technical matters--instead leaving her hanging, with progress stalled, for months at a time, and then blaming her for the delays, and citing these delays as cause for the brutally handled termination.
{Though no one wants to sign up for this, friends in the legal community have commented to me that this behavior is actionable--and were this Hollywood, Cenage would be facing a considerable lawsuit for damages.}
What is reasonable, and preferable, is to reinstate Professor Parker.
Not only should she not have to face the prospect of years of wasted work on a project that she cares about intensely, and has garnered international recognition for, but it is incomprehensible why Cengage, even for sheer commercial reasons, would fumble such a resource.
To inform Professor Parker by a mere letter, with no follow-up conversation, and in the wake of years of refusing to converse with her about numerous issues involved with the preparation of her materials, is no way to treat anyone--let alone someone with such a well-earned, sparkling international reputation as a specialist in her field.
Cengage Learning may want to consider the long-term consequences of this bad publicity . . . it is a discredit to the publisher and the series--ethically, intellectually, and not to put too fine a point on it, commercially. No one would want to honor Cengage by ordering Ardens for their students, or citing its editions in their own scholarship.
Yours sincerely,
Susan J. Wolfson
Professor of English
Princeton University
General Editor
Longman Cultural Editions
******************************************************************
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:37:51 -0500
From: Alan Dessen <acdessen@email.unc.edu>
Organization: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
To: Ann Thompson <ann.thompson@kcl.ac.uk>,
David Kastan <david.kastan@yale.edu>, David Kastan <dsk1@columbia.edu>,
Henry Woudhuysen <uclehrw@ucl.ac.uk>,
Richard Proudfoot <richard.proudfoot@ukgateway.net>
CC: Margaret Bartley <margaret.bartley@cengage.com>
Subject: Parker edition of *Dream*
I was shocked to learn that Pat Parker has been terminated as the editor of the Arden 3 *Midsummer Night’s Dream*. For more than five years I have been functioning via e-mail as an unofficial consultant and sounding board, mostly in response to questions about stage directions but also with regard to related matters (e.g., about how X might have been staged in those first performances). As a result I am aware of many, perhaps most, of her editorial choices and have been greatly impressed by what she has discovered by means of her microscopic eye for detail.
My use of the Arden Shakespeare series goes back to my graduate student experience with the first Arden 2s the early 1960s. I found myself both learning from them and fighting against them (e.g., the approach to stage directions in the Arden 2 *Titus*). My use of the Arden 3 items has been more sporadic, but I have encountered some choices and omissions that I find troubling (e.g., a Quarto stage direction not to be found in the textual notes to *2 Henry VI*). In short, in terms of my own work I have had mixed results.
That assessment does not pertain to Prof. Parker’s approach - in particular, her attention to detail and her refusal to take on faith previous editorial decisions - which has struck me as fresh and invigorating. Yes, some of the results may be controversial, but I have continually supported her choice to retain Quarto readings - my mantra in such situations is: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If such a clear-headed, eagle-eyed view of the evidence is unacceptable to Arden, the problem lies with the series - and, to me and others, is very troubling.
To conclude: if Prof. Parker’s world-class efforts are being trashed, then my evaluation of the Arden series has plummeted. As with other elements in our culture, “Arden Shakespeare” apparently has become little more than a marketing tool - or, in Texas terms, “all hat and no cattle.”
Alan Dessen
Peter Phialas Professor of English (Emeritus)
U. of North Carolina
********************************************************************
Professors David Kastan, Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson and Henry Woudhuysen
Dear Colleagues,
I believe that Arden’s new publisher has terminated Patricia Parker as the editor of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I also believe that Arden Shakespeare is now owned by a private equity fund which may have little understanding of what it takes to produce work of this nature. Moreover, Pat heard about the decision in an extremely rude manner--through a DHL letter which forbade her from contacting the General Editors of the series.
This is shocking news and I am writing to add my voice to the many scholars who are upset by it. I sincerely hope that you, as General Editors, will be able to work towards reversing the publisher's decision.
I know that Pat has been working on the edition for many years, at great expense of time and money. I have also heard her present sections of the material for the edition at a stunning seminar at the University of Pennsylvania. As an admirer of Pat's scholarship, which is, as you know, respected by Shakespeareans everywhere, and as someone who is particularly admiring of Pat's intellectual commitment to issues of cultural diversity, gender, and global relations, I am horrified. I am sure you'll agree that scholars must be treated with greater respect by those who own and run publishing houses and profit from intellectual labor of others.
This news is not good for the reputation of the series, and will adversely affect not only the series but all of us who engage in such work. I urge you to intervene in this distressing situation.
Sincerely,
Ania Loomba
--
Ania Loomba
Catherine Bryson Professor of English
University of Pennsylvania
Fisher-Bennett Hall,
3340 Walnut Street
Philadelphia PA 19104-6273
Ph: 215-898-6326
Fax: 215-573-2063
*******************************************************************
Dear Ms. Bartley,
I have just learned, to my absolute shock and disgust, that Patricia Parker
has been abruptly terminated as the editor of the Arden 3 _Midsummer Night's
Dream_. How Arden press could so rudely and ruthlessly dismiss such a
distinguished and respected scholar, who has toiled for years now in a labor
of love on that edition, and whose detailed, careful, and innovative work
has only generated excitement and eager anticipation about the end product,
is absolutely beyond me. Since Professor Parker's contracted date of
delivery for the edition has not yet been reached, such an abrupt
termination reeks not only of inhumanity but of political and commercial
machinations that deny academic freedom and excellence. Such injustice sets
a terrible precedent and cannot be tolerated.
I teach _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ every academic year to 200
undergraduates, and I have been eagerly awaiting Pat Parker's edition so
that I could adopt it for my course because I know she holds to the highest
scholarly standards and that her edition will be based on both
well-established and creative editorial practice. Unless she is reinstated
as editor of the Arden 3 _Midsummer Night's Dream_, I will not be adopting
that or any other Arden edition in my classes.
___________________________________________
Patricia Fumerton
Professor and Director, English Broadside Ballad Archive (EBBA),
http://emc.english.ucsb.edu/ballad_project/
Department of English
University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3170
Fax: (805) 893-4626
