Introduction. From Solitary Genius to Networked Participant: Re-mapping Shakespeare’s Narrative Sources

This introduction details the methodology behind the SENS digital platform, which functions as an open-access, polyvocal archive. This platform employs a layered editorial model (comprising diplomatic, semi-diplomatic, and modernized editions) alongside innovative Digital Humanities tools such as "performance footnotes" and interactive intertextual maps. These resources allow users to trace how motifs and narrative "resources" migrated and transformed across linguistic borders, particularly from the Italian novella tradition through French adaptations to the English stage. Ultimately, the collected essays demonstrate how Shakespeare functioned as a "networked participant" within a vibrant European dialogue rather than a solitary, predestined genius. By repositioning sources as dynamic "points of departure," this volume offers new insights into the transformative processes of adaptation, the articulation of cultural otherness, and the enduring "eudaimonic value" of Shakespearean texts.