Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book SynopsisKathleen Gallagher and Barry Freeman bring together nineteen playwrights, actors, directors, scholars, and educators who discuss the role that theatre can and must play in professional, community, and educational venues.Trade Review"This collection helpfully expands the debate on "why theatre now" by providing a selection of points of view and experiences offering a hopeful message for the future of theatre." -- Zoe Zontou, Liverpool Hope University * University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018 *Table of ContentsIntroduction Taking a Step Back Barry Freeman and Kathleen Gallagher Part I: A Politics of Place in a Global Age Theatre for a Changeable World, or Making Room for a Fire (Barry Freeman) Make What You Need (Dustin Scott Harvey) When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators... (Edward Little) Part II: Antitode for an Ailing Modernity Politics and Presence: A Theatre of Affective Encounters (Kathleen Gallagher) If You Mingle: Thoughts on How Theatre Humanizes the Audience (Andrew Kushnir) Towards a Theatre of Rich, Poetic Language (Alan Dilworth) The Box That Cannot Be Contained (Catherine Banks) Part III: (En)Gendering Change Recontextualizing (Jackie Maxwell in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) Performance as Reappearance: Female Blackness in History and Theatre (Naila Keleta-Mae) Unspeakable Vulnerability: Theatre Mattering in Men's Lives (Julie Salverson) Part IV: Breaking Down Barriers It's Time to Profess Performance: Thinking Beyond the Specialness and Discreteness of Theatre (Laura Levin) Including Millennials in the Theatre of the New Millennium (Nicholas Hanson) Convergence Theatre: Necessary Producers (A Dialogue Between Julie Tepperman and Aaron Willis) Are We There Yet? Using Theatre to Promote Positive Interdisciplinary Intercourse (James McKinnon) Thinking Beyond the Boundaries of Theatre, Math and Reality (John Mighton in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) Part V: Why Theatre Always From Epidaurus to the BackSpace at Passe Muraille: Hard Seats, Real Theatre (Judith Thompson) Sequencing the Shattered Narratives of the Now (Ann-Marie MacDonald in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) A Small Essay on the Largeness of Light (Daniel David Moses)

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Book SynopsisKathleen Gallagher and Barry Freeman bring together nineteen playwrights, actors, directors, scholars, and educators who discuss the role that theatre can and must play in professional, community, and educational venues.Trade Review"This collection helpfully expands the debate on "why theatre now" by providing a selection of points of view and experiences offering a hopeful message for the future of theatre." -- Zoe Zontou, Liverpool Hope University * University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018 *Table of ContentsIntroduction Taking a Step Back Barry Freeman and Kathleen Gallagher Part I: A Politics of Place in a Global Age Theatre for a Changeable World, or Making Room for a Fire (Barry Freeman) Make What You Need (Dustin Scott Harvey) When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators... (Edward Little) Part II: Antitode for an Ailing Modernity Politics and Presence: A Theatre of Affective Encounters (Kathleen Gallagher) If You Mingle: Thoughts on How Theatre Humanizes the Audience (Andrew Kushnir) Towards a Theatre of Rich, Poetic Language (Alan Dilworth) The Box That Cannot Be Contained (Catherine Banks) Part III: (En)Gendering Change Recontextualizing (Jackie Maxwell in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) Performance as Reappearance: Female Blackness in History and Theatre (Naila Keleta-Mae) Unspeakable Vulnerability: Theatre Mattering in Men's Lives (Julie Salverson) Part IV: Breaking Down Barriers It's Time to Profess Performance: Thinking Beyond the Specialness and Discreteness of Theatre (Laura Levin) Including Millennials in the Theatre of the New Millennium (Nicholas Hanson) Convergence Theatre: Necessary Producers (A Dialogue Between Julie Tepperman and Aaron Willis) Are We There Yet? Using Theatre to Promote Positive Interdisciplinary Intercourse (James McKinnon) Thinking Beyond the Boundaries of Theatre, Math and Reality (John Mighton in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) Part V: Why Theatre Always From Epidaurus to the BackSpace at Passe Muraille: Hard Seats, Real Theatre (Judith Thompson) Sequencing the Shattered Narratives of the Now (Ann-Marie MacDonald in conversation with Kathleen Gallagher) A Small Essay on the Largeness of Light (Daniel David Moses)

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Book SynopsisIt is a commonly held view among historians of Greek literature that with the advent of Euripides the tragic structure, even the tragic outlook of Greek drama suffered a breakdown from which it never recovered. While there is much truth in this opinion, it has tended to put too much emphasis on 'Euripides the destroyer' rather than 'Euripides the creator.' In this study the author's main purpose is to redress the balance and to discuss the structure and techniques of Euripidean drama in relation to its new and richly varied themes.The consistent dramatic form evolved by Aeschylus and Sophocles had grown out of their conception of tragedy as the resultant of the tension between the individual will and the universal order suggested in myth. For Euripides, who never fully accepted myth as the real basis of tragedy, alternate ways of using the traditional material became necessary, and the playwright continually changed his dramatic structure to suit the particular tragic ide

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Book SynopsisRaymond Poisson, a contemporary of Molière, was the leading comic actor with the troupe of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and later at the Comédie Française during the first five years of its existence. He popularized one of the French stage's best-loved stock characters, the impudent servant Crispin, while finding time to supply his troupe with short comedies in which he himself starred. This study is thoroughly documented and reflects the author's detailed knowledge of, and interest in, the period. It establishes Poisson's place in theatrical history, and illuminates a whole tradition in French theatre in the seventeenth century.

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Book SynopsisUnlikely friends and collaborators, Bernard Shaw and Gilbert Murray carried on a lively and wide-ranging correspondence for more than fifty years. When they began exchanging letters in the late 1890s, Shaw was a renowned Fabian propagandist, reviewer, and author of anti-conventional plays. Murray was a classicist and translator of ancient Greek drama who would eventually become Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford. Beginning with their shared distaste for the popular “well-made plays” of the era, their correspondence quickly expanded into collaboration – Murray helped revise Shaw’s Major Barbara, in which he appears as a character  – and discussion of a vast range of issues ranging from alphabet reform and psychic phenomena to the League of Nations and international politics.This collection of 171 letters, most never before published, finally makes the fascinating Shaw/Murray correspondence available. With explanatory headnotes and fTrade Review'Carpenter has done a superlative job compiling, contextualizing, and introducing the Shaw-Murray correspondence.' -- H.I. Einsohn Choice Magazine, vol 52:02:2015Table of ContentsGeneral Editor's Note Introduction Editor's Note Acknowledgements Abbreviations Letters Table of Correspondents References Index

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Book SynopsisThis Companion represents the myriad ways of thinking about the remarkable achievement of Shakespeare's sonnets. An authoritative reference guide and extended introduction to Shakespeare's sonnets. Contains more than 20 newly-commissioned essays by both established and younger scholars. Considers the form, sequence, content, literary context, editing and printing of the sonnets. Shows how the sonnets provide a mirror in which cultures can read their own critical biases. Informed by the latest theoretical, cultural and archival work. Trade Review"Of making many reference books about Shakespeare there is no end, and Blackwell, a leader in the field of reference books on literature and other topics, has produced a large and expensive Companion to Shakespeare's Sonnets" (Chronique) "This title provides a solid introduction to key concepts and ways of studying the work of an author who whose reputation is so great it is often difficult for readers new to the works to know where to begin.... The quality of all the essays is very high." (Reference Reviews, Issue 4 2008) "Michael Schoenfeldt's compilation of twenty-five critical essays takes into account the most important issues concerning Shakespeare's sonnets: historical, interpretive, biographical, and editorial ... Several familiar themes in Sonnet criticism get fresh readings here … it is obviously impossible to do justice here to all of the essays ... it is a valuable [guide] to the current state of criticism and scholarship." (Renaissance Quarterly) "This is generally an excellently structured collection of essays." (Notes and Queries)Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors viii Acknowledgments xii Introduction 1 Part I Sonnet Form and Sonnet Sequence 13 1 The Value of the Sonnets 15 Stephen Booth 2 Formal Pleasure in the Sonnets 27 Helen Vendler 3 The Incomplete Narrative of Shakespeare’s Sonnets 45 James Schiffer 4 Revolution in Shake-speares Sonnets 57 Margreta de Grazia Copyrighted Material Part II Shakespeare and His Predecessors 71 5 The Refusal to be Judged in Petrarch and Shakespeare 73 Richard Strier 6 “Dressing old words new”? Re-evaluating the “Delian Structure” 90 Heather Dubrow 7 Confounded by Winter: Speeding Time in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 104 Dympna Callaghan Part III Editorial Theory and Biographical Inquiry: Editing the Sonnets 119 8 Shake-speares Sonnets, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and Shakespearean Biography 121 Richard Dutton 9 Mr. Who He? 137 Stephen Orgel 10 Editing the Sonnets 145 Colin Burrow 11 William Empson and the Sonnets 163 Lars Engle Part IV The Sonnets in Manuscript and Print 183 12 Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the Manuscript Circulation of Texts in Early Modern England 185 Arthur F. Marotti 13 The Sonnets and Book History 204 Marcy L. North Part V Models of Desire in the Sonnets 223 14 Shakespeare’s Love Objects 225 Douglas Trevor 15 Tender Distance: Latinity and Desire in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 242 Bradin Cormack 16 Fickle Glass 261 Rayna Kalas 17 “Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame”: Mapping the “Emotional Regime” of Shakespeare’s Sonnets 277 Jyotsna G. Singh Part VI Ideas of Darkness in the Sonnets 291 18 Rethinking Shakespeare’s Dark Lady 293 Ilona Bell 19 Flesh Colors and Shakespeare’s Sonnets 314 Elizabeth D. Harvey Part VII Memory and Repetition in the Sonnets 329 20 Voicing the Young Man: Memory, Forgetting, and Subjectivity in the Procreation Sonnets 331 Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr. 21 “Full character’d”: Competing Forms of Memory in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 343 Amanda Watson Part VIII The Sonnets in/and the Plays 361 22 Halting Sonnets: Poetry and Theater in Much Ado About Nothing 363 Patrick Cheney 23 Personal Identity and Vicarious Experience in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 383 William Flesch Part IX The Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint 403 Margaret Healy 25 The Enigma of A Lover’s Complaint 426 Catherine Bates Appendix: The 1609 Text of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint 441 Index 502

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Book SynopsisIn 2011, The Long Story Shorts One Act Festival was launched featuring performances of short plays written by undergraduate students in the Writing for the Screen and Stage minor, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Marking the first five years of the festival, this anthology showcases works written to be performed in ten minutes with a small production budget.

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the poetic function of Greek archetypes in Schiller's Wallenstein, this study claims Homer's Iliad and Euripides's Iphigenia in Aulis, the first epic and the last tragic poem about the Trojan War in the Greek tradition, as archetypal sources for Schiller's modern historical drama about the Thirty Years War.

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1950, this volume contains a vivid English verse translation by Paul H. Curts of one of the most profound and moving tragedies of German literature.

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Book SynopsisLiterary historians and critics who have written on the influence of Racine in England during the neoclassical period apparently have assumed that the English translators and adapters of Racine’s plays in general succeeded in presenting the real Racine to the English public.Katherine Wheatley here reveals the wide discrepancy between avowed intentions and actual results. Among the English plays she compares with their French originals are Otway’s Titus and Berenice, Congreve’s The Mourning Bride, and Philips’s The Distrest Mother. These comparisons, fully supported by quoted passages, reveal that those among the English public and contemporary critics who could not themselves read French had no chance whatever to know the real Racine: “The adapters and translators, so-called, had eliminated Racine from his tragedies before presenting them to the public.” Unacknowledged excisions and additions, shifts in plot, changes inTable of Contents Preface Part I. Racine Improved I. John Crowne and Racine II. Thomas Otway’s Titus and Berenice III. The Mourning Bride IV. Abel Boyer’s Achilles V. Edmund Smith and Racine VI. Andromaque as the “Distrest Mother” VII. Charles Johnson’s The Victim VIII. The Sultaness IX. The Fatal Legacy X. Two Translations of Britannicus Part II. Racine and English Classicism XI. Neo-Classical Theory of Tragedy in England, 1674–1699 XII. English Judgments of Racine, 1675–1699 XIII. Racine and the Critics, 1700–1721 XIV. Summary and Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisIn Passing Judgement, Hélène Bilis examines how an overlooked character-typethe royal judgeremained a constant of the tragic genre throughout the 17th century.Trade Review"This book is an excellent addition to scholarship on both humanist and classical French theater." -- Brian Moots, Pittsburgh State University * Renaissance Quarterly *Table of ContentsPREFACE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: The Critique of Le Cid: Richelieu, Royal Judgment, and the Rules CHAPTER 2: Failed Judgments, Thwarted Justice: Alexandre Hardy's Scedase ou l'hospitalite violee CHAPTER 3: The Ceremony Unravels: Tragedy's Comedic Turn CHAPTER 4: Learning From Experience: On Corneille and Coherence CHAPTER 5: Corneille's Cinna and Rotrou's Crisante: A Search for the Emperor's Judgment CHAPTER 6: Racine and Royal Fathers of Injustice-Mithridate and Phedre CONCLUSION Note Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPoetry on Stage focuses on exchanges between the writers of the Italian neo-avant-garde with the actors, directors, and playwrights of the Nuovo Teatro. The book sheds light on a forgotten chapter of twentieth-century Italian literature, arguing that the theatre was the ideal incubator for stylistic and linguistic experiments and a means through which authors could establish direct contact with their audience and verify solutions to the practical and theoretical problems raised by their stances in politics and poetics. A robust analysis of a number of exemplary texts grounds these issues in the plays and poems produced at the time and connects them with the experimentations subsequently carried out by some of the same artists. In-depth interviews with four of the most influential figures in the field critic Valentina Valentini, actor and director Pippo Di Marca, author Giuliano Scabia, and the late poet Nanni Balestrini conclude the volume, providing invaluable fiTrade Review"The copious literature on the poetic Neoavanguardia has long obscured a clearly necessary analysis of parallel experiences of the same authors. This monograph decentralises the anthologies that have now been canonized, and to which the critical attention is almost utterly devoted, and has the potential to inaugurate a more diffuse consideration of the understudied theatre (re-)writings." -- Marzia D’Amico, University of Oxford * Annali d’italianistica *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on Terminology 1. Why the Theatre? The Role of the Stage in the Theoretical Debate Surrounding the Poetry and Poetics of the Neo-Avant-Garde 2. The Italian Stage in the 1960s 3. A Few Theoretical Notes on Breath and Text 4. An Introduction to Pagliarani’s Theatre 5. Collaborations and Convergences: Pagliarani, Giuliani, Celli, and Sanguineti Interview with Valentina Valentini Interview with Pippo Di Marca Interview with Nanni Balestrini Interview with Giuliano Scabia Works Cited

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Book SynopsisCan the inadvertent clashes between collaborators produce more powerful effects than their concordances? For Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, the playwriting team best known for their tragedy The Changeling, disagreements and friction proved quite beneficial for their work.This first full-length study of Middleton and Rowley uses their plays to propose a new model for the study of collaborative authorship in early modern English drama. David Nicol highlights the diverse forms of collaborative relationships that factor into a play’s meaning, including playwrights, actors, companies, playhouses, and patrons. This kaleidoscopic approach, which views the plays from all these perspectives, throws new light on the Middleton-Rowley oeuvre and on early modern dramatic collaboration as a whole.Trade Review‘In this welcome study of working relationship between two early modern playwrights, David Nicol fuses new approach with old….This approach produces fascinating and often persuasive insights.’ -- Mark Hutchings * SHARP News August 20, 2016 *‘For its attention to details of theatrical performance and its illuminating readings of multiple plays, Nicol’s book is an important contribution to the study of early modern authorship and collaboration.’ -- Hetaher A. Hirschfeld * Early Theatre vol 17:01:2014 *"Nicol combines this critical project with a survey of different ways of imagining collaborative authorship prompted by the Middleton-Rowley canon… Nicol’s study is an important inquiry into the practises of collaborative authorship and a major contribution to recognizing Rowley. Nicol largely avoids the risk of defining the sense of each author’s creative disposition too narrowly, and his carful scholarship illustrates the productive insights to be gained from pursuing a separationist approach." -- Andrew Gordon * Renaissance Quarterly: Vol 67:02:2014 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Note on the Citation of Early Modern Dramatic Texts 1. Middleton and Rowley: Writing About Collaborative Drama - Critical Approaches to Collaboration: The Case of The Changeling - Middleton, Rowley and Authorship - Authorial Divisions and the Process of Collaboration - Analyzing Collaborative Drama 2. Collaborators and Individual Style: Choice and Religion in The Changeling - Choosing to Sin in All`s Lost by Lust - The Mind of the Sinner - Calvinism and Middleton`s Tragedies - Collaboration and Choice in The Changeling - Divided Authors 3. The Actor as Collaborator: Wit at Several Weapons and the Incorporation of Persona - Rowley’s Persona Under Different Playwrights - The Rowleyan Clown in All’s Lost by Lust - The Structure of Rowley’s Clown Plots - Middleton, Rowley, and the Clown: Wit at Several Weapons - The Clown’s Perspective 4. Collaborators and Playing Companies: Class and Genre in A Fair Quarrel - Middleton and the Factious Comedy - Rowley and Romance - The Double Ending of A Fair Quarrel ­- Duelling Genres 5. A Presence in the Crowd: Multiple Authorship and the Individual Voice in The Spanish Gypsy, The World Tosesed at Teninis and The Old Law - An Actor’s Presence in The Spanish Gypsy and The Changeling - The Patron’s Presence in The World Tossed at Tennis and The Old Law - Epilogue: The Presence of the Absent Author Appendix: A Middleton-Rowley Chronology

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Book Synopsis"What is the most wonderful thing about teaching this play in our classrooms?" Using this question as a starting point, Shakespeare’s Guide to Hope, Life, and Learning presents a conversation between four of Shakespeare’s most popular plays and our modern experience, and between teachers and learners.The book analyzes King Lear, As You Like It, Henry V, and Hamlet, revealing how they help us to appreciate and responsibly interrogate the perspectives of others. Award-winning teachers Lisa Dickson, Shannon Murray, and Jessica Riddell explore a diversity of genres – tragedy, history, and comedy – with distinct perspectives from their own lived experiences. They carry on lively conversations in the margins of each essay, mirroring the kind of open, ongoing, and collaborative thinking that Shakespeare inspires.The book is informed by ideas of social justice and transformation, articulated by such thinkers as Paulo Freire, ParTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Shakespeare, the Classroom, and Critical Hope Part One: King Lear Keep Falling, Alice: Rabbit Holes, Monkey Wrenches, and Critical Love in King Lear Jessica Riddell Impossible Choices and Unbreakable Bonds in King Lear: Close Reading, Negative Capability, and Critical Empathy Shannon Murray “Bless Thy Sweet Eyes, They Bleed”: The Ethics of Pedagogy and My Fear of Lear Lisa Dickson Part Two: As You Like It Learning as an Act of Becoming in As You Like It Jessica Riddell “Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity”: Duke Senior’s Arden as a Hopeful Creation Shannon Murray Something Wicked: Verse and Bodies in As You Like It 5.2 Lisa Dickson Part Three: Henry V Henry V: Prophecy, Hope-Speak, and Future-Speak Shannon Murray Orators of Hope or Rhetors Gone Rogue? The Ambiguities of Persuasion in Henry V Jessica Riddell “We Should Just F**k around with Some Text”: Henry V and the White Box Classroom Lisa Dickson Part Four: Hamlet Chasing Roosters on the Ramparts: Three Ways of Doing in Hamlet Lisa Dickson Acknowledging the Complexity of Unknowing as an Act of Critical Hope in Hamlet Jessica Riddell Wonder and Dust in a Hopeful Hamlet Shannon Murray Epilogue: The Value of the Edges Works Cited Index

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Book Synopsis"What is the most wonderful thing about teaching this play in our classrooms?" Using this question as a starting point, Shakespeare’s Guide to Hope, Life, and Learning presents a conversation between four of Shakespeare’s most popular plays and our modern experience, and between teachers and learners.The book analyzes King Lear, As You Like It, Henry V, and Hamlet, revealing how they help us to appreciate and responsibly interrogate the perspectives of others. Award-winning teachers Lisa Dickson, Shannon Murray, and Jessica Riddell explore a diversity of genres – tragedy, history, and comedy – with distinct perspectives from their own lived experiences. They carry on lively conversations in the margins of each essay, mirroring the kind of open, ongoing, and collaborative thinking that Shakespeare inspires.The book is informed by ideas of social justice and transformation, articulated by such thinkers as Paulo Freire, ParTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue: Shakespeare, the Classroom, and Critical Hope Part One: King Lear Keep Falling, Alice: Rabbit Holes, Monkey Wrenches, and Critical Love in King Lear Jessica Riddell Impossible Choices and Unbreakable Bonds in King Lear: Close Reading, Negative Capability, and Critical Empathy Shannon Murray “Bless Thy Sweet Eyes, They Bleed”: The Ethics of Pedagogy and My Fear of Lear Lisa Dickson Part Two: As You Like It Learning as an Act of Becoming in As You Like It Jessica Riddell “Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity”: Duke Senior’s Arden as a Hopeful Creation Shannon Murray Something Wicked: Verse and Bodies in As You Like It 5.2 Lisa Dickson Part Three: Henry V Henry V: Prophecy, Hope-Speak, and Future-Speak Shannon Murray Orators of Hope or Rhetors Gone Rogue? The Ambiguities of Persuasion in Henry V Jessica Riddell “We Should Just F**k around with Some Text”: Henry V and the White Box Classroom Lisa Dickson Part Four: Hamlet Chasing Roosters on the Ramparts: Three Ways of Doing in Hamlet Lisa Dickson Acknowledging the Complexity of Unknowing as an Act of Critical Hope in Hamlet Jessica Riddell Wonder and Dust in a Hopeful Hamlet Shannon Murray Epilogue: The Value of the Edges Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisA consciousness of the past has been an essential determinant of community in the city of Chester, England. This awareness and fascination has been bolstered by a strong civic tradition of drama. In particular, the city's Whitsun Plays have been a vehicle for communicating the myth of the city's medieval heritage, helping to reinforce the sense of history that is part of Chester's identity.Building up the material in REED: Chester, David Mills has produced a detailed study of Chester's Whitsun Plays in their local, physical, social, political, cultural, and religious context. A continuum has survived between the Middle Ages and the present day, providing not only an understanding of the plays themselves, but a narrative of the ways in which manuscripts survive and the functions that they serve. The continued performance of these plays is significant of modern play revivals as a political and sociological phenomenon, demonstrating the power that these rituals and play

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Book SynopsisIn 1800 entries this valuable reference work covers texts and records of dramatic activity for about 400 sites in Britain from Roman times to 1558. Grouped in sections – Texts listed chronologically; Records of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Other, classified by county, site, and date; and Doubtful Texts and Records – the entries summarize the contents of each record and give bibliographic information.Professor Lancashire presents a comprehensive survey of almost every type of literary and historical record, document, and work: civic, church, guild, monastic and royal court minutes and financial accounts; national records – Chancery, Parliament, Privy Council, Exchequer; royal proclamations; wills; local court rolls; jest-books, poems, prose treatises, sermons; archaeological remains, artifacts, illustrations. He brings together works in several normally unrelated fields: Roman theatre in Britain; medieval drama as such, including the Corpus Christ

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Book SynopsisA number of striking parallels link the lives and careers of Machiavelli and Kleist. This study of the influence of one on the work of the other begins with an outline of those parallels, and of the Machiavellian atmosphere in Kleist’s first play, Die Familie Schroffenstein.Reeve goes on to focus on the protagonists of Kleist’s plays, beginning with Licht in Der zerbrocheme Krug. He exposes the skill of Licht’s behind-the-scenes direction of the course of events to his own advantage and to the detriment of his superior, Adam. Next Reeve offers a detailed analysis of Die Hermannsschlacht, in which he demonstrates how Hermann embodies those qualities – the cunning of the fox and the strength of the lion – demanded by Machiavelli in a successful ruler. With these traits Hermann has brought the German princes, his own tribe, his rival Marbod, his wife, and even the Romans to a point where, unwittingly, the have all worked towards the establishme

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Book SynopsisThe Problem Plays—Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure—form a group distinguished by such common factors as a preoccupation with religious dogma and the problem of evil; an interest in human nature as it is, rather than with its latent capacities; and a strong contrast between the outlook of youth and age. Dr. Tillyard discusses these factors before tracing their effect in the individual plays, so that his study not only illumines each piece but also its neighbours. He thus succeeds in bringing these apparently disparate works into sharp focus, and establishes between them a mutually enlightening relationship.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book to survey comprehensively the field of Elizabethan and Jacobean citizen comedy. Most studies of the period focus on major authors; this one follows recurring themes and motifs, through a variety of plays by many authors from the moralizing comedies of the boys' companies. Professor Leggatt provides not only a fresh perspective on familiar plays by such figures as Jonson, Middleton, and Dekker, but also a new look at a number of neglected comedies, some by unfamiliar authors, some by major authors working together. Standard figures – the usurer, the prodigal, and the prostitute – and standard plots – notably intrigues based on money or sex (or both) – are traced to show the changes that occur in apparently stereotyped material at the hands of individual authors. The result is to display the range and internal variety of a genre that too often is seen as all of a piece, and to show the different ways in which social thinking can inte

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Book SynopsisThis critical edition introduces new audiences to A Warning for Fair Women, an important but neglected work of Elizabethan drama. Trade Review"Editions like A Warning for Women are few and far between: fun, relevant, contextually nuanced, and accessible."—Francesca Bua, Comitatus“Students and scholars alike will find Ann Christensen’s erudite and entertaining new edition of A Warning for Fair Women to be invaluable in the study of Elizabethan literature and culture. The work is an important addition to the growing body of non-Shakespearean drama available in an accessible form for the twenty-first-century classroom.”—Amy L. Tigner, coauthor of Culinary Shakespeare: Staging Food and Drink in Early Modern England“This edition elegantly situates the play in relation to stage, page, and scaffold, and showcases how the anonymous playwright is in conversation with genres as diverse as scaffold speeches and mothers’ manuals. It also demonstrates how this early modern murder resonates with popular culture today.”—Emma Whipday, author of Shakespeare’s Domestic Tragedies: Violence in the Early Modern Home “A Warning for Fair Women has everything fans of true-crime dramas expect—adulterous sex, family conflict, disputes about money, grisly murder, scheming accomplices, long-winded courtroom speeches, gallows confessions, and lots of blood. Ann Christensen’s spirited edition of this largely unknown Elizabethan play, first performed by Shakespeare’s company, is perfect for class read-arounds or more fully staged performances, with a contextualizing literary and historical framework spot-on for today’s students.”—Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, author of Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe “This finely executed edition offers a timely rationale for returning A Warning for Fair Women to scholarly conversation. With ties to Shakespeare’s company the play has obvious relevance for repertory studies, but well beyond this it explores social issues of the period related to domestic crime, women and the law, politics and economics, moral instruction and the church, even the occult and the supernatural. It is a play that well repays our attention.”—S. P. Cerasano, Edgar W. B. Fairchild Professor of Literature at Colgate University Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface A Note about the Text and Previous Editions Acknowledgments Introduction Cast of Characters A Warning for Fair Women Appendix Arthur Golding’s A briefe discourse of the late Murther of master George Sanders John Stow’s The Annales of England Faithfully Collected Ballad, “The wofull lamentacon [sic] of Mrs. Anne Saunders” Excerpts of Dorothy Leigh’s The Mother’s Blessing Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Telltale Women is an important book that will set the terms of scholarly inquiry on these matters for years to come."—Katherine Goodland, Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal"Allison Machlis Meyer provides a welcome intervention in a nexus of divergent fields—source studies, feminist criticism, and historiography. By considering the shifting ways in which early modern queens have been represented across genres, Meyer offers a new treatment of the relationship between historical narratives and history plays, making a case for the ways in which history writing—in all of its myriad forms—wrestles productively with larger cultural desires."—Emma Katherine Atwood, Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England"The treatment of histories and plays as intertexts is an exciting, fresh approach that offers new insights and approaches to history scholars."—E. A. Nicol, Choice“Allison Machlis Meyer’s thoughtful and compelling book has in effect given the field two studies it needs badly: an analysis of women’s political roles in early modern narrative historiography and a new examination of how these roles are transformed—and limited—in dramatic representation.”—Dan Breen, associate professor of English at Ithaca College“Meyer’s historically alert and rhetorically savvy argument introduces a novel approach to source studies. Lucidly and engagingly she attends to long-term developments of the early modern chronicle and historical drama genres while richly delineating the contexts of the early authors’ political and personal allegiances and rivalries. Students of gender and book history alike will benefit from this insightful study of the shaping of cultural attitudes toward the political agency of royal women and their use for the consolidation of a citizen-centered English nation.”—Kirilka Stavreva, professor of English at Cornell College and author of Words Like Daggers: Violent Female Speech in Early Modern EnglandTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Early Modern Royal Women and the Historical Record 1. A Very Prey to Time: Rewriting Elizabeths in Tudor Historiography and William Shakespeare’s Richard III 2. Your Hope Is Gone: Narrowing the Nation in The True Tragedy of Richard III and Thomas Heywood’s Edward IV 3. From a Noble Lady to an Unnatural Queen: Imagining Queen Isabel in Chronicle History and Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II 4. So Masculine a Stile: Gender and Genre in Elizabeth Cary’s The History of Edward II 5. You Must Be King of Me: Queens and Rivals in Francis Bacon’s The History of King Henry VII and John Ford’s Perkin Warbeck Coda: Double Drowned in the Gulf of Forgetfulness Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis A Warning for Fair Women is a 1599 true-crime drama from the repertory of Shakespeare’s acting company. While important to literary scholars and theater historians, it is also readable, relevant, and stage-worthy today. Dramatizing the murder of London merchant George Saunders by his wife’s lover, and the trials and executions of the murderer and accomplices, it also sheds light on neighborhood and domestic life and crime and punishment. This edition of A Warning for Fair Women is fully updated, featuring a lively and extensive introduction and covering topics from authorship and staging to the 2018 world revival of the play in the United States. It includes a section with discussion and research questions along with resources on topics raised by the play, from beauty and women’s friendship to the occult. Ann C. Christensen presents a freshly edited text for today’s readers, with in-depth explanatory notes, scene summaries, a galleTrade Review"Editions like A Warning for Women are few and far between: fun, relevant, contextually nuanced, and accessible."—Francesca Bua, Comitatus“Students and scholars alike will find Ann Christensen’s erudite and entertaining new edition of A Warning for Fair Women to be invaluable in the study of Elizabethan literature and culture. The work is an important addition to the growing body of non-Shakespearean drama available in an accessible form for the twenty-first-century classroom.”—Amy L. Tigner, coauthor of Culinary Shakespeare: Staging Food and Drink in Early Modern England“This edition elegantly situates the play in relation to stage, page, and scaffold, and showcases how the anonymous playwright is in conversation with genres as diverse as scaffold speeches and mothers’ manuals. It also demonstrates how this early modern murder resonates with popular culture today.”—Emma Whipday, author of Shakespeare’s Domestic Tragedies: Violence in the Early Modern Home “A Warning for Fair Women has everything fans of true-crime dramas expect—adulterous sex, family conflict, disputes about money, grisly murder, scheming accomplices, long-winded courtroom speeches, gallows confessions, and lots of blood. Ann Christensen’s spirited edition of this largely unknown Elizabethan play, first performed by Shakespeare’s company, is perfect for class read-arounds or more fully staged performances, with a contextualizing literary and historical framework spot-on for today’s students.”—Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, author of Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe “This finely executed edition offers a timely rationale for returning A Warning for Fair Women to scholarly conversation. With ties to Shakespeare’s company the play has obvious relevance for repertory studies, but well beyond this it explores social issues of the period related to domestic crime, women and the law, politics and economics, moral instruction and the church, even the occult and the supernatural. It is a play that well repays our attention.”—S. P. Cerasano, Edgar W. B. Fairchild Professor of Literature at Colgate University Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface A Note about the Text and Previous Editions Acknowledgments Introduction Cast of Characters A Warning for Fair Women Appendix Arthur Golding’s A briefe discourse of the late Murther of master George Sanders John Stow’s The Annales of England Faithfully Collected Ballad, “The wofull lamentacon [sic] of Mrs. Anne Saunders” Excerpts of Dorothy Leigh’s The Mother’s Blessing Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFrom West Side Story in 1957 to Road Show in 2008, the musicals of Stephen Sondheim and his collaborators have challenged the conventions of American musical theater and expanded the possibilities of what musical plays can do, how they work, and what they mean. Sondheim''s brilliant array of work, including such musicals as Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Into the Woods, has established him as the preeminent composer/lyricist of his, if not all, time.Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical places Sondheim''s work in two contexts: the exhaustion of the musical play and the postmodernism that, by the 1960s, deeply influenced all the American arts. Sondheim''s musicals are central to the transition from the Rodgers and Hammerstein-style musical that had dominated Broadway stages for twenty years to a new postmodern musical. This new style reclaimed many of the self-aware, perfo

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Book SynopsisThough best known for The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling wrote over 250 scripts for film and TV and won an unmatched six Emmy Awards. In great detail and including never-published insights drawn directly from Serling's personal correspondence, unpublished writings, speeches, and unproduced scripts, Nicholas Parisi explores Serling's body of work.

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Book SynopsisIn Staging Harmony, Katherine Steele Brokaw reveals how the relationship between drama, music, and religious change across England's long sixteenth century moved religious discourse to more moderate positions. It did so by reproducing the complex personal attachments, nostalgic overtones, and bodily effects that allow performed music to evoke the feeling, if not always the reality, of social harmony. Brokaw demonstrates how theatrical music from the late fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries contributed to contemporary discourses on the power and morality of music and its proper role in religious life, shaping the changes made to church music as well as people's reception of those changes. In representing social, affective, and religious life in all its intricacy, and in unifying auditors in shared acoustic experiences, staged musical moments suggested the value of complexity, resolution, and compromise rather than oversimplified, absolutist binaries worth killing or dTrade Review[Staging Harmony]... is an engaging and historically well-informed work that explores the complex relationship of music and drama over the long sixteenth century, filling in the gaps that result from focusing too narrowly on the Elizabethan commercial theater to the exclusion of early Tudor interludes, Reformist morality plays, schoolboy dramas, and court and household entertainments. -- Jonathan Baldo, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester * Renaissance Quarterly *Staging Harmony offers a sophisticated account of theatrical engagement with music over a key period of dramatic production, a subtle description of early modern religious cultures, and a rich theorization of music’s role in embodied belief. * EARLY THEATRE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Theater, Music, and Religion in the Long Sixteenth Century 1. Sacred, Sensual, and Social Music: Wisdom and the Digby Mary Magdalene 2. Musical Hypocrisy: The Plays of John Bale 3. Learning to Sing: The Plays of Nicholas Udall 4. Propaganda and Psalms: Early Elizabethan Drama 5. Sound Effects: Doctor Faustus 6. Arts to Enchant: The Tempest and The Winter's Tale

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Book SynopsisWays of the World explores cosmopolitanism as it emerged during the Restoration and the role theater played in both memorializing and satirizing its implications and consequences. Rooted in the Stuart ambition to raise the status of England through two crucial investmentsglobal traffic, including the slave trade, and cultural sophisticationthis intensified global orientation led to the creation of global mercantile networks and to the rise of an urban British elite who drank Ethiopian coffee out of Asian porcelain at Ottoman-inspired coffeehouses. Restoration drama exposed cosmopolitanism''s most embarrassing and troubling aspects, with such writers as Joseph Addison, Aphra Behn, John Dryden, and William Wycherley dramatizing the emotional and ethical dilemmas that imperial and commercial expansion brought to light.Altering standard narratives about Restoration drama, Laura J. Rosenthal shows how the reinvention of theater in this periodincluding technical innovations Trade ReviewThis well-argued, thought-provoking book argues for the key role of theater in the development of English cosmopolitanism and imperialism during the Restoration and 18th century. Well written and persuasive, the book significantly furthers the study of Restoration theater and its connections to the politics of empire. -- L. S. Stanavage, SUNY Potsdam * Choice *With regard to the study of emotions as culturally and temporally specific phenomena, Ways of the World has much on offer. * Emotions: History, Culture & Society *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. All Roads Lead to Rhodes: William Davenant, Ottomanphilia, and the Reinvention of Theater in the Restoration 2. Travestie: William Wycherley, the Fop, and the Provincial Girl 3. Indian Queens and the Queen Who Brought the Indies: Dryden, Settle, and the Tragedies of Empire 4. Restoration Legacies: Tragic Monarchs, Exotic and Enslaved 5. "Have You Not Been Sophisticated?": The Afterlife of the Restoration Actress 6. Histories of Their Own Times: Burnet, Cibber, and Rochester Epilogue: Mr. Spectator, Adam Smith, and the New Global Citizenship

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Book SynopsisKatharine Cleland''s Irregular Unions provides the first sustained literary history of clandestine marriage in early modern England and reveals its controversial nature in the wake of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which standardized the marriage ritual for the first time. Cleland examines many examples of clandestine marriage across genres. Discussing such classic works as The Faerie Queene, Othello, and The Merchant of Venice, she argues that early modern authors used clandestine marriage to explore the intersection between the self and the marriage ritual in post-Reformation England.The ways in which authors grappled with the political and social complexities of clandestine marriage, Cleland finds, suggest that these narratives were far more than interesting plot devices or scandalous stories ripped from the headlines. Instead, after the Reformation, fictions of clandestine marriage allowed early modern authorsTrade ReviewCleland's book represents an important step forward in contextualizing early modern English literature. This book enriches that scholarship by providing a deeper understanding of the many types of marriages portrayed in early modern literature and how they reflect the social anxieties of the period. Clearly written and tightly argued, the book should be of interest to scholars of literature and history. * Renaissance and Reformation *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Making a Clandestine Match in Early Modern English Literature 1. Reforming Clandestine Marriage in Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book I 2. "Wanton Loves and Young Desires": Marlowe's Hero and Leander and Chapman's Continuation 3. Sacred Ceremonies and Private Contracts in Spenser's Epithalamion and Shakespeare's A Lover's Complaint 4. "Lorenzo and His Infidel": Elopement and the Cross-Cultural Household in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice 5. "Are You Fast Married?": Elopement and Turning Turk in Shakespeare's Othello Conclusion: Incestuous Clandestine Marriage in John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

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Book SynopsisUnfixable Forms explores how theatrical form remakesand is in turn remade byearly modern disability. Figures described as deformed, lame, crippled, ugly, sick, and monstrous crowd the stage in English drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In each case, such a description distills cultural expectations about how a body should look and what a body should doyet, crucially, demands the actor''s embodied performance. In the early modern theater, concepts of disability collide with the deforming, vulnerable body of the actor. Reading dramatic texts alongside a diverse array of sources, ranging from physic manuals to philosophical essays to monster pamphlets, Katherine Schaap Williams excavates an archive of formal innovation to argue that disability is at the heart of the early modern theater''s exploration of what it means to put the body of an actor on the stage. Offering new interpretations of canonical works by William Shakespeare, Ben JoTrade ReviewUnfixable Forms marks a milestone in disability studies. It is an essential book that prompts readers to think about, and cultivate a desire for, human difference. * Modern Philology *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Unfixing Early Modern Disability 1. Deformed: Wanting to See Richard III 2. Citizen Transformed: Being the Lame Soldier 3. Performing Cripple in Theatrical Exchange 4. Changing the Ugly Body 5. Playing Time, or Sick of Feigning 6. Making the Monster Coda: Inviting Performance

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Book SynopsisHow to Do Things with Dead People studies human contrivances for representing and relating to the dead. Alice Dailey takes as her principal objects of inquiry Shakespeare''s English history plays, describing them as reproductive mechanisms by which living replicas of dead historical figures are regenerated in the present and re-killed. Considering the plays in these terms exposes their affinity with a transhistorical array of technologies for producing, reproducing, and interacting with dead thingstechnologies such as literary doppelgängers, photography, ventriloquist puppetry, X-ray imaging, glitch art, capital punishment machines, and cloning. By situating Shakespeare''s historical drama in this intermedial conversation, Dailey challenges conventional assumptions about what constitutes the context of a work of art and contests foundational models of linear temporality that inform long-standing conceptions of historical periodization and teleological ordTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Luminous Spiral and the Cigarette Box, or Technologies of the Afterdeath 1. Little, Little Graves: Shakespeare's Photographs of Richard II 2. Haunted Histories: Dramatic Double Exposure in Henry IV, Parts One and Two 3. Dummies and Doppelgängers: Performing for the Dead in 1 Henry VI 4. The King Machine: Reproducing Sovereignty in 3 Henry VI 5. Fuck Off and Die: The Queercrip Reign of Richard III Postscript: Lazarus Again

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Book SynopsisAfterlives of Endor offers an analysis of the way early modern English literature addressed the period''s anxieties about witchcraft and theatricality. What determined whether or not a demonologist imagined a trial as a spectacle? What underlying epistemological constraints governed such choices and what conceptions of witchcraft did these choices reveal? Pairing readings of demonological texts with canonical plays and poetry, Laura Levine examines such questions. Through analyses of manuals and pamphlets about the prosecution of witchesincluding Reginald Scot''s skeptical The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), King James VI/I''s Daemonologie (1597), and Jean Bodin''s De la Demonomanie des Sorciers (1580)Afterlives of Endor examines the way literary texts such as Shakespeare''s The Winter''s Tale and The Tempest, Spenser''s The Faerie Queene, and Marlowe''s Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus address anxietie

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Book SynopsisFor all that we love and admire Shakespeare, he is not that easy to grasp. He may have written in Elizabethan English, but when we read him, we can't help but understand his words, metaphors, and syntax in relation to our own. Until now, explaining the powers and pleasures of the Bard's language has always meant returning it to its original linguistic and rhetorical contexts. Countless excellent studies situate his unusual gift for words in relation to the resources of the English of his day. They may mention the presumptions of modern readers, but their goal is to correct and invalidate any false impressions. Shakesplish is the first book devoted to our experience as modern readers of Early Modern English. Drawing on translation theory and linguistics, Paula Blank argues that for us, Shakespeare's language is a hybrid English composed of errors in comprehension—and that such errors enable, rather than hinder, some of the pleasures we take in his language. Investigating how and why it strikes us, by turns, as beautiful, funny, sexy, or smart, she shows how, far from being the fossilized remains of an older idiom, Shakespeare's English is also our own.Trade Review"As Paula Blank argues, whether or not we are dipping into a 'No Fear' edition, we are always paraphrasing Shakespeare. Shamelessly fun to read, this original and timely book should have broad appeal." -- Julia Reinhard Lupton * University of California, Irvine *"In her worthy sequel to Broken English, Paula Blank meditates provocatively on the 'friction' induced by our distance from early modern English. Shakesplish confronts and celebrates that distance, giving voice to a past now revived for our era." -- Scott Newstok, Director, Pearce Shakespeare Endowment * Rhodes College *"This beautifully conceived book argues for a new and suggestive way of making Shakespeare our contemporary, at once familiar and exotic. Focusing on Shakespeare's language not as he might have intended it but as we understand it today, Paula Blank shows how what registers to a modern reader as the difficulty or strangeness of Shakespeare actually provokes singularly rich forms of cultural and personal self-discovery." -- Geoffrey Harpham, Kenan Institute for Ethics * Duke University *"We owe Paula Blank much thanks for bequeathing to us a book that I would not hesitate to describe as possessing the same traits she has analyzed for us—a book that is 'beautiful', 'funny', 'smart', and yes, even 'sexy': seductive, that is, in the elegant and articulate way in which it helps reveal to us our innermost desires about what Shakespeare's language should be." -- Iolanda Plescia * Memoria di Shakespeare *"Blank returns the reader to the act of luxuriating in the opulent richness of Shakespeare's language like no other scholar I have ever encountered. Shakesplish: How We Read Shakespeare's Language will be consulted for decades to come because of its indefatigable energy and exuberate erudition." -- William Reginald Rampone * Sixteenth Century Journal *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts1"Shakespeare in Modern English" chapter abstractThis chapter lays the groundwork for approaching Shakespeare's English from the perspective of our own, drawing on translation theory, second-language acquisition theory, and performance studies. It destabilizes the argument over whether Shakespeare should or should not be translated into modern English by posing the theory that Shakespeare's English, in our reception of it, has become an "interlanguage," a uniquely modern hybrid. 2"Beautiful" chapter abstractThis chapter attempts to account for our continuing sense of Shakespeare's language as "beautiful" in an age in which the traditional aesthetic categories of "beautiful" and "sublime" have given way to new categories, such as "cute" or "interesting." Starting from the premise that, when it comes to Shakespeare, we are closer to eighteenth-century critics than twenty-first century ones, this chapter posits that our best chance of determining what it is that makes Shakespeare's language beautiful lies in considering what happens in the moment we make contact with his texts, the moment of our interlinguistic participation. Focusing on our experience of belatedness in relation to Shakespeare's Early Modern diction and syntax, this chapter examines various examples of Shakespeare's beautiful—and not so beautiful—language in order to determine the source of our aesthetic pleasure. 3"Sexy" chapter abstractThis chapter shows that Shakespeare's language is more openly sexual, when it is sexual, than our Modern English expectations have led us to believe. Early Modern English lacked "clinical" terms for male and female sexual organs and for the act of sexual intercourse itself. When Shakespeare uses terms like "sport" or "dally" for sex, he is speaking directly rather than euphemistically. This chapter argues that our interest in Shakespeare's sexual language actually reveals our ambivalence toward his original sexual frankness: We prefer sex in Shakespeare be hidden, so that we can find it out for ourselves. For us, Shakespeare's sexual language is, in itself, a metaphor for our idea of Shakespeare's text as coded, hiding some essential "truth." 4"Funny" chapter abstractThis chapter explores the "funny" and "unfunny" effects of Modern English on Shakespeare's comedy. Situating Shakespeare's jokes within the context of several dominant, enduring theories of humor in the Western tradition—including "superiority" theories, "arousal" or "release" theories, and "incongruity" theories—the chapter explains why and how it is that some of Shakespeare's comedy falls flat to contemporary ears while other instances have become more funny as a result of the gap between our English and Shakespeare's. 5"Smart" chapter abstractThis chapter examines Shakespeare's "intelligence effects," the ways in which his language gives us a sense of depth and acuity. Shakespeare did not use the word "intelligence" in the way that we do: in Early Modern English, the key terms were "wit" and "discourse of reason." Often, modern readers find Shakespeare's characters' "intelligent" because they demonstrate inwardness and self-consciousness; in the process, however, we miss their many failures of logic, which for Shakespeare's audience would have indicated a failure of reason. The chapter further argues that Shakespeare's poetic syntax makes him sound "smarter" to us. 6"Shakespeare as Modern English" chapter abstractThis chapter focuses on Modern English phrases that derive from Shakespeare's Early Modern English, but have been adapted to more recent forms of the vernacular, either in meaning or form. Modern English includes many idioms that originate in Shakespeare, such as "hoist with his own petard," "one fell swoop," and "primrose path." This chapter divides such idioms into three categories: those whose literal meaning is now obscure to us, those that we hear simply as Modern English, and those that sound antiquated and clichéd. Finally, the chapter returns to our modern obsession with identifying idioms as Shakespearean. Cited so often, in so many contexts, over so many centuries, these phrases have become their own particular suborder of language. They are far more ours than his, not Shakespeare but "Shakespeare."

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Book SynopsisIn Networking Print in Shakespeare's England, Blaine Greteman uses new analytical tools to examine early English print networks and the systemic changes that reshaped early modern literature, thought, and politics. In early modern England, printed books were a technology that connected people—not only readers and writers, but an increasingly expansive community of printers, publishers, and booksellers—in new ways. By pairing the methods of network analysis with newly available digital archives, Greteman aims to change the way we usually talk about authorship, publication, and print. As Greteman reveals, network analysis of the nearly 500,000 books printed in England before 1800 makes it possible to speak once again of a "print revolution," identifying a sudden tipping point at which the early modern print network became a small world where information could spread in new and powerful ways. Along with providing new insights into canonical literary figures like Milton and Shakespeare, data analysis also uncovers the hidden histories of key figures in this transformation who have been virtually ignored. Both a primer on the power of network analysis and a critical intervention in early modern studies, the book is ultimately an extended meditation on agency and the complexity of action in context. Trade Review"This book offers rigorous scholarship into print culture, while at the same time all the main terms of network theory appear, meticulously documented, clearly explained, and well illustrated by examples. This interweaving is beautifully accomplished, and the result is as delightful to read as it is deeply engaged in all the relevant scholarship."—Laura Mandell, Texas A&M University"This is an important and much-needed work that provides a blueprint for scholars who wish to adopt network analysis for their own research.Greteman persuasively demonstrates how network analysis can make meaningful contributions to well-established humanistic research fields and questions."—Jessica Otis, George Mason University"The book skillfully shows that network analysis can be incorporated into a serious engagement with the particularities of early modern print culture. The central principle of networks is connection, and the connections Greteman makes among fields of study and among the many agents of early modern print culture are a powerful illustration of the utility of this kind of analysis in literary criticism."—John R. Ladd, Modern Language QuarterlyTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Methods and Data 2. A Small New World: Fire, Infection, and Sudden Change in the English Print Network 3. Hubs in the Network: Nicholas Okes and the Making of Infectious Information 4. Radical Betweenness: Eleanor Davies and Mary Cary 5. Weak Ties and the Making of a Strong Poet: John Milton's Early Publishers Epilogue: Future Directions in Networking the Past

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Book SynopsisIn Networking Print in Shakespeare's England, Blaine Greteman uses new analytical tools to examine early English print networks and the systemic changes that reshaped early modern literature, thought, and politics. In early modern England, printed books were a technology that connected people—not only readers and writers, but an increasingly expansive community of printers, publishers, and booksellers—in new ways. By pairing the methods of network analysis with newly available digital archives, Greteman aims to change the way we usually talk about authorship, publication, and print. As Greteman reveals, network analysis of the nearly 500,000 books printed in England before 1800 makes it possible to speak once again of a "print revolution," identifying a sudden tipping point at which the early modern print network became a small world where information could spread in new and powerful ways. Along with providing new insights into canonical literary figures like Milton and Shakespeare, data analysis also uncovers the hidden histories of key figures in this transformation who have been virtually ignored. Both a primer on the power of network analysis and a critical intervention in early modern studies, the book is ultimately an extended meditation on agency and the complexity of action in context. Trade Review"This book offers rigorous scholarship into print culture, while at the same time all the main terms of network theory appear, meticulously documented, clearly explained, and well illustrated by examples. This interweaving is beautifully accomplished, and the result is as delightful to read as it is deeply engaged in all the relevant scholarship."—Laura Mandell, Texas A&M University"This is an important and much-needed work that provides a blueprint for scholars who wish to adopt network analysis for their own research.Greteman persuasively demonstrates how network analysis can make meaningful contributions to well-established humanistic research fields and questions."—Jessica Otis, George Mason University"The book skillfully shows that network analysis can be incorporated into a serious engagement with the particularities of early modern print culture. The central principle of networks is connection, and the connections Greteman makes among fields of study and among the many agents of early modern print culture are a powerful illustration of the utility of this kind of analysis in literary criticism."—John R. Ladd, Modern Language QuarterlyTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Methods and Data 2. A Small New World: Fire, Infection, and Sudden Change in the English Print Network 3. Hubs in the Network: Nicholas Okes and the Making of Infectious Information 4. Radical Betweenness: Eleanor Davies and Mary Cary 5. Weak Ties and the Making of a Strong Poet: John Milton's Early Publishers Epilogue: Future Directions in Networking the Past

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Book SynopsisThis book is about a mad king and a mad duke. With original and iconoclastic readings, Richard van Oort pioneers the reading of Shakespeare as an ethical thinker of the "originary scene," the scene in which humans became conscious of themselves as symbol-using moral and narrative beings. Taking King Lear and Measure for Measure as case studies, van Oort shows how the minimal concept of an anthropological scene of origin—the "originary hypothesis"—provides the basis for a new understanding of every aspect of the plays, from the psychology of the characters to the ethical and dialogical conflicts upon which the drama is based. The result is a gripping commentary on the plays. Why does Lear abdicate and go mad? Why does Edgar torture his father with non-recognition? Why does Lucio accuse the Duke in Measure for Measure of madness and lechery, and why does Isabella remain silent at the end? In approaching these and other questions from the perspective of the originary hypothesis, van Oort helps us to see the ethical predicament of the plays, and, in the process, makes Shakespeare new again.Trade Review"This is criticism of the highest order, whose long, careful readings of King Lear and Measure for Measure are in dialogue with the finest readers of Shakespeare for the past century." —Blair Hoxby, Stanford University"A rigorous yet highly readable attempt to understand Shakespeare and neoclassical drama in general in new terms, Shakespeare's Mad Men demonstrates in admirable detail the analytical power of generative anthropology wielded by a powerful intelligence."—Eric Gans, University of California, Los Angeles"Attentive to both the ruses of bad faith and the truths disclosed by Shakespeare's language, van Oort addresses our human predicament as symbol-making creatures whose search for love is troubled by the ceaseless drive for mastery."—Julia Reinhard Lupton, University of California, Irvine"van Oort's reading is nothing less than a stunning provocation."—Amir Khan, Shakespeare Quarterly"[R]eaders... will find value and pleasure in van Oort's compelling readings, and his clear style makes complex concepts pleasingly accessible."—Molly G. Yarp, Times Literary Supplement"Eminently readable, Shakespeare's Man Men attempts to engage and explain the larger questions the plays raise, particularly why characters behave the way they do and make the choices they do. The readings are original and offer exciting ways to engage with the plays. Highly recommended."—K. J. Wetmore Jr., CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The King's Last Potlatch 2. The Judge, the Duke, His Wife, and Her Lover Conclusion

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Book SynopsisRecent years have witnessed a surge in early modern ecostudies, many devoted to Shakespearean drama. Yet in this burgeoning discipline, travel writing appears moored in historicization, inorganic subjects are far less prevalent than organic ones, and freshwater sites are hardly visited. For All Waters explores these uncharted wetscapes. Lowell Duckert shows that when playwrights and travel writers such as Sir Walter Raleigh physically interacted with rivers, glaciers, monsoons, and swamps, they composed “hydrographies,” or bodily and textual assemblages of human and nonhuman things that dissolved notions of human autonomy and its singular narrativity. With a playful, punning touch woven deftly into its theoretical rigor, For All Waters disputes fantasies of ecological solitude that would keep our selves high and dry and that would try to sustain a political ecology excluding water and the poor. The lives of both humans and waterscapes can be improved simultaneously through direct engagement with wetness. For All Waters concludes by investigating waterscapes in peril today—West Virginia’s chemical rivers and Iceland’s vanishing glaciers—and outlining what we can learn from early moderns’ eco-ontological lessons. By taking their soggy and storied matters to heart, and arriving at a greater realization of our shared wetness, we can conceive new directions to take within the hydropolitical crises afflicting us today.Trade Review"As the ‘hydrological turn’ of literary and cultural studies mixes with traditional green environmentalism and less familiar materialist discourses, early modern studies is entering new waters. With special attention to non-oceanic spaces and non-canonical texts, Lowell Duckert's brilliant and imaginative study makes the case for engaged historicist ecocriticism. In our Anthropocene age of ecological anxieties and catastrophes, Duckert contributes a vision of elemental co-composing that the critical conversation deeply needs."—Steve Mentz, author of Shipwreck Modernity"A fascinating and creative book tasked with bridging early modernity and today’s global ecological crises in a sound, ethical, and philosophically responsible way." —Renaissance QuarterlyTable of ContentsContentsPreface: Shivering, WetIntroduction: Enter, Wet1. Becoming Wa/l/ter2. Going Glacial3. Making (It) Rain4. Mucking UpConclusion: Exit, WetAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn the 1920s a distinctively American detective fiction emerged from the pages of pulp magazines. The \u201chard-boiled\u201d stories published in Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and Clues featured a new kind of hero and soon challenged the popularity of the British mysteries that held readers in thrall on both sides of the Atlantic. In Hard-Boiled Erin A. Smith examines the culture that produced and supported this form of detective story through the 1940s. Relying on pulp magazine advertising, the memoirs of writers and publishers, Depression-era studies of adult reading habits, social and labor history, Smith offers an innovative account of how these popular stories were generated and read. She shows that although the work of pulp fiction authors like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner have become \u201cclassics\u201d of popular culture, the hard-boiled genre was dominated by hack writers paid by the word, not self-styled artists. Pulp magazine editors and writers emphasized a gritty realism in the new genre. Unlike the highly rational and respectable British protagonists (Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, for instance), tough-talking American private eyes relied as much on their fists as their brains as they made their way through tangled plotlines. Casting working-class readers of pulp fiction as \u201cpoachers,\u201d Smith argues that they understood these stories as parables about Taylorism, work, and manhood; as guides to navigating consumer culture; as sites for managing anxieties about working women. Engaged in re-creating white, male privilege for the modern, heterosocial world, pulp detective fiction shaped readers into consumers by selling them what they wanted to hear - stories about manly artisan-heroes who resisted encroaching commodity culture and the female consumers who came with it. Commenting on the genre\u2019s staying power, Smith considers contemporary detective fiction by women, minority, and gay and lesbian writers.Trade Review"Picking up a classic 'hard-boiled' detective novel by Dashiell Hammet or Raymond Chandler-or even modern-day Sara Paretsky-is an entirely different experience after reading Smith's fascinating book. Now the pages of these novels and their close cousins, the pulp magazines, have become rich canvases for working out struggles over readers' class and consumer identities." -Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University "Not until Erin Smith's innovative study have we had such a fully-grounded look at the imagined community of working-class fraternity, masculinity, and consumerism through which pulp audiences interpreted the 'fast-talking' heroes of hard-boiled detective fiction. A lively, engaging book that ranges from the linguistics to the sartorial dimensions of the genre, from labor to cultural capital, from advertising copy to literary theory." -Christopher P. Wilson, author of Cap Knowledge: Police Power and Cultural Narrative in Twentieth Century America "Hard-Boiled [is] a valuable contribution to the study of American literature between the wars." -Modern Fiction Studies "Erin Smith's Hard-Boiled is an extremely interesting and well-written analysis of the pulp magazines." -American Literature "Hard-Boiled ably demonstrates that detective pulp fiction functioned contradictorily, simultaneously empowering its readers and keeping them in line. Moreover, Smith's careful research persuasively reconstructs the proletarian readers who left no written records of their experience, thus making a substantial contribution to the field of working-class studies." -The Journal of American History "One of the few works of pure American Studies that I have as yet encountered, Hard-Boiled is a work of interdisciplinary scholarship..." -Journal of Social History "...offers a thoroughly inventive approach to sensational crime fiction... Smith's deft readings demonstrate the often surprising ambiguity of the pulps' gender, labor, and consumer politics." -Novel: A Forum on FictionTable of ContentsCONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: Reconstructing Readers 1. The Hard-Boiled Writer and the Literary Marketplace 2. The Adman on the Shop Floor: Workers, Consumer Culture, and the Pulps PART II: Reading Hard-Boiled Fiction 3. Proletarian Plots 4. Dressed to Kill 5. Talking Tough 6. The Office Wife Afterword Notes Index

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Book SynopsisIn the 1920s a distinctively American detective fiction emerged from the pages of pulp magazines. The \u201chard-boiled\u201d stories published in Black Mask, Dime Detective, Detective Fiction Weekly, and Clues featured a new kind of hero and soon challenged the popularity of the British mysteries that held readers in thrall on both sides of the Atlantic. In Hard-Boiled Erin A. Smith examines the culture that produced and supported this form of detective story through the 1940s. Relying on pulp magazine advertising, the memoirs of writers and publishers, Depression-era studies of adult reading habits, social and labor history, Smith offers an innovative account of how these popular stories were generated and read. She shows that although the work of pulp fiction authors like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner have become \u201cclassics\u201d of popular culture, the hard-boiled genre was dominated by hack writers paid by the word, not self-styled artists. Pulp magazine editors and writers emphasized a gritty realism in the new genre. Unlike the highly rational and respectable British protagonists (Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, for instance), tough-talking American private eyes relied as much on their fists as their brains as they made their way through tangled plotlines. Casting working-class readers of pulp fiction as \u201cpoachers,\u201d Smith argues that they understood these stories as parables about Taylorism, work, and manhood; as guides to navigating consumer culture; as sites for managing anxieties about working women. Engaged in re-creating white, male privilege for the modern, heterosocial world, pulp detective fiction shaped readers into consumers by selling them what they wanted to hear - stories about manly artisan-heroes who resisted encroaching commodity culture and the female consumers who came with it. Commenting on the genre\u2019s staying power, Smith considers contemporary detective fiction by women, minority, and gay and lesbian writers.Trade Review"Picking up a classic 'hard-boiled' detective novel by Dashiell Hammet or Raymond Chandler-or even modern-day Sara Paretsky-is an entirely different experience after reading Smith's fascinating book. Now the pages of these novels and their close cousins, the pulp magazines, have become rich canvases for working out struggles over readers' class and consumer identities." -Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University "Not until Erin Smith's innovative study have we had such a fully-grounded look at the imagined community of working-class fraternity, masculinity, and consumerism through which pulp audiences interpreted the 'fast-talking' heroes of hard-boiled detective fiction. A lively, engaging book that ranges from the linguistics to the sartorial dimensions of the genre, from labor to cultural capital, from advertising copy to literary theory." -Christopher P. Wilson, author of Cap Knowledge: Police Power and Cultural Narrative in Twentieth Century America "Hard-Boiled [is] a valuable contribution to the study of American literature between the wars." -Modern Fiction Studies "Erin Smith's Hard-Boiled is an extremely interesting and well-written analysis of the pulp magazines." -American Literature "Hard-Boiled ably demonstrates that detective pulp fiction functioned contradictorily, simultaneously empowering its readers and keeping them in line. Moreover, Smith's careful research persuasively reconstructs the proletarian readers who left no written records of their experience, thus making a substantial contribution to the field of working-class studies." -The Journal of American History "One of the few works of pure American Studies that I have as yet encountered, Hard-Boiled is a work of interdisciplinary scholarship..." -Journal of Social History "...offers a thoroughly inventive approach to sensational crime fiction... Smith's deft readings demonstrate the often surprising ambiguity of the pulps' gender, labor, and consumer politics." -Novel: A Forum on FictionTable of ContentsCONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: Reconstructing Readers 1. The Hard-Boiled Writer and the Literary Marketplace 2. The Adman on the Shop Floor: Workers, Consumer Culture, and the Pulps PART II: Reading Hard-Boiled Fiction 3. Proletarian Plots 4. Dressed to Kill 5. Talking Tough 6. The Office Wife Afterword Notes Index

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Book SynopsisWhat is the effect of a \u0022nation\u0022? In this age of globalization, is it dead, dying, or only dormant? The essays in this groundbreaking volume use the arts in Mexico to move beyond the national and the global to look at the activity of a community continually re-creating itself within and beyond its own borders. Mexico is a particularly apt focus, partly because of the vitality of its culture, partly because of its changing political identity, and partly because of the impact of borders and borderlessness on its national character. The ten essays collected here look at a wide range of aesthetic productions -- especially literature and the visual arts -- that give context to how art and society interact. Steering a careful course between the nostalgia of nationalism and the insensitivity of globalism, these essays examine modernism and postmodernism in the Mexican setting. Individually, they explore the incorporation of historical icons, of vanguardism, and of international influence. From Diego Rivera to Elena Garro, from the Tlateloco massacre to the Chiapas rebellion, from mass-market fiction to the film Aliens, the contributors view the many sides of Mexican life as relevant to the creation of a constantly shifting national culture. Taken together, the essays look both backward and forward at the evolving effect of the Mexican nation.Trade Review"Broad enough to appeal to a wide audience of Mexicanists, while at the same time focused around a specific set of issues, The Effects of the Nation is a strong collection of essays, both well-conceived and well written. The dual focus on literature and visual art strengthens the book by suggesting connections among various Mexican intellectual circles and the cultural industries. The result should appeal to both literary scholars and art historians." -Claire Fox, author of The Fence and the River: Culture and Politics at the U.S.-Mexican Border "The diversity of these essays reveals an interlocking strength built upon a common thematic, without coming across individually as narrowly construed or atomized. There is a wonderful overlap as well as tension between the essays, notably in the ways that the authors approach the question of representation and power in the Mexican national (and transnational) space. The publication of this collection will come at a fortuitous moment, when academic interest in Mexican studies is breaking free of earlier agendas." -Eric Zolov, Assistant Professor of Latin American History at Franklin and Marshall College and author of Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture "The essays in this book use the arts in Mexico to move away from the national and the global, to look at the activity of a community continually recreating itself within and beyond its own borders. The essays examine a wide range of aesthetic productions-especially literature and the visual arts-that give context to how art and society interact." -Hispanic OutlookTable of ContentsIntroduction: Ungoverned Specificities - Carl Good 1. Mexican Art on Display - Olivier Debroise 2. Mathias Goeritz: Emotional Architecture and Creating a Mexican National Art - Juan Bruce-Novoa 3. Corporeal Identities in Mexican Art: Modern and Postmodern Strategies - Karen Cordero Reiman 4. Elena Poniatowska's Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela: A Revision of Her Story - Susan C. Schaffer 5. "Un octubre manchado se detiene": Memory and Testimony in the Poetry of David Huerta - Jacobo Sefami 6. Aesthetic Criteria and the Literary Market in Mexico: The Changing Shape of Quality, 1982-1994 - Danny J. Anderson 7. Un hogar insolito: Elena Garro and Mexican Literary Culture - Rebecca E. Biron 8. Rene Derouin: Dialogues with Mexico - Montserrat Gali Boadella 9. Unhomely Feminine: Rosina Conde - Debra A. Castillo 10. The Postmodern Hybrid: Do Aliens Dream of Alien Sheep? - Rolando Romero About the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis is a comprehensive guide to the writing career of the author of ""Angels in America"".""Understanding Tony Kushner"" surveys the acclaimed writings of the author of the Pulitzer Prize - winning drama ""Angels in America"" and coauthor of the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the film ""Munich"". Viewing Kushner as a sociopolitical dramatist in the tradition of Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and Bertolt Brecht, James Fisher guides readers through Kushner's influences and creations to map the importance of the writer's body of work in expanding the postmodern literary and cultural landscapes. After grounding his discussions in Kushner's early plays, ""A Bright Room Called Day"" and ""Hydriotaphia"", or ""The Death of Dr. Brown"", Fisher engages with the two plays of ""Angels in America"" to identify the major themes to be revisited in subsequent works. Fisher reads the depiction of the clash of values in the mid-1980s in Angels as Kushner's placement of humanity's fate at the nexus of divergent views on morality, politics, religion, history, gender, and sexuality, views that complicate individual and national identity and beg the overarching question, is change to be embraced or challenged? Fisher concludes with an exploration of how Kushner moves his themes from stage to screen in Munich and the forthcoming film Lincoln, both directed by Steven Spielberg.

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Book SynopsisThis revised edition provides a comprehensive view of the thematic structure of Wilson's plays, the placement of his work within the context of American drama, and the distinctively African American experiences and traditions that he dramatizes. It includes a revised introduction, revised chapters, and material from interviews with seminal figures in Wilson's personal and professional life.

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Book SynopsisAnnual collection of essays, this year treating works by Donne, Shakespeare, Marvell, and Spenser, among other topics. Renaissance Papers is a collection of the best scholarly essays submitted each year to the Southeastern Renaissance Conference. The conference accepts papers on all subjects relating to the Renaissance -- music, art, history, literature, etc. -- from scholars all over North America and the world. Of the nine essays in the 2002 volume, three have to do with John Donne; among the topics here are Donne and Pietro Aretino, Donne and "All the World," andauthorial intention in the Holy Sonnets. Two essays deal with Shakespeare, specifically the discourse of dilution in 2 Henry IV and the Ovidian underworld in Othello. Other essays treat Marvell and the temporality of paranoia; poetry, patronage, and identity in Spenser's The Faerie Queene; and the visual culture of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Contributors: Nicholas Crawford, Dennis Flynn, Heather Hirschfeld, Pamela Royston Macfie, Anne E. McIlhaney, Graham Roebuck, Gary Stringer, James M. Sutton, Alzada Tipton. M. Thomas Hester is professor of English at North Carolina State UniversityTable of ContentsPastoral Community and the Hooks of Memory: The Mnemonic Landscape of Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (1653)Compleat Angler (1653) - Anne E. McIlhaney Marvell and the Temporality of Paranoia - Heather Hirschfeld Familiar Letters: Donne and Pietro Aretino - Dennis A. Flynn The Discourse of Dilution in 2 Henry IV - Nicholas Crawford John Donne and "All the World" - Graham Roebuck Poetry, Patronage, and Identity in the Dance of the Graces, Book VI of The Faerie Queene - Alzada Tipton The "Allurement of Liking" and the "Contention of the Eyes": Decoding the Visual Culture of the Elizabethan Prodigy House - James M. Sutton Discovering Authorial Intention in the Manuscript Sequences of Donne's Holy Sonnets - Gary Stringer

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Book SynopsisCutting-edge criticism on major aspects of Goethe's best-known work. Undisputedly a canonical work, Goethe's Faust is also the key to understanding its author, one of European civilization's most complex figures. Written over several decades, the work spans both Goethe's life and an age of enormous social, political, philosophical, and artistic change - even revolution. In this volume, Goethe scholars and experts from Europe and North America explore major aspects of this fascinating work, offering a cutting-edge guide to both reader and scholar. Contributors: Ritchie Robertson, Martin Swales, Alberto Destro, Osman Durrani, Ellis Dye, John R. Williams, Anthony Phelan, Franziska Schößler, Peter D. Smith, Cyrus Hamlin, R.H. Stephenson, David Luke, Robert David McDonald Paul Bishop is William Jacks Chair of Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow.Trade ReviewEach essay presents an interesting aspect of Faust research, and the volume as a whole can be used as a very informative reference work. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *...as a coherent, accessible, often masterful introduction to a vast and complex work, this volume fulfills its promise....There is, without question, an awe-inspiring critical sovereignty and breadth in this book. * GOETHE YEARBOOK *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Reading Faust Today - Paul Bishop Literary Techniques and Aesthetic Texture in Faust - Ritchie Robertson The Character and Characterization of Faust - Martin Swales The Guilty Hero, or the Tragic Salvation of Faust - Alberto Destro The Character and Qualities of Mephistopheles - Osman Durrani Figurations of the Feminine in Goethe's Faust - Ellis Dye - DECEASED IN 2017 The Problem of the Mothers - John R. Williams The Classical and the Medieval in Faust II - Anthony Phelan Progress and Restorative Utopia in Faust II and Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre - Franziska Schößler "Was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält": Scientific Themes in Goethe's Faust - Peter Smith Goethe's Faust and the Philosophers - Cyrus Hamlin The Diachronic Solidity of Goethe's Faust - R.H. Stephenson Translating Faust: A Personal Statement - F.D. Luke Faust: The Play in Production - Robert David MacDonald

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Book SynopsisA reassessment of genre that fills a major gap in Goethe's oeuvre and initiates a radically new reading of Faust. Goethe has long been enshrined as the greatest German poet, but his admirers have always been uneasy with the idea that he did not produce a great epic poem. A master in all the other genres and modes, it has been felt, should have done so. Arnd Bohm proposes that Goethe did compose an epic poem, which has been hidden in plain view: Faust. Goethe saw that the Faust legends provided the stuff for a national epic: a German hero, a villain (Mephistopheles), a quest (to know all things), a sublime conflict (good versus evil), a love story (via Helen of Troy), and elasticity (all human knowledge could be accommodated by the plot). Bohm reveals the care with which Goethe draws upon such sources as Tasso, Ariosto, Dante, and Vergil. In the microcosm of the "Auerbachs Keller" episode Faust has the opportunity to find "what holds the world together in its essence" and to end his quest happily, but he fails. He forgets the future because he cannot remember what epic teaches. His course ends tragically, bringing him back to the origin of epic, as he replicates the Trojans' mistake of presuming to cheat the gods. Arnd Bohm isAssociate Professor of English at Carleton University, Ottawa.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2007 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award * . *A bold undertaking by a careful scholar, this book displays an impressive grasp of its supporting materials. Bohm challenges readers to view Faust in interesting new ways and supports his discussion with extraordinary footnotes. ... Imaginative comparisons with earlier epics furnish new insights. ... The final pages of the book offer an excellent summary. * CHOICE *Bohm has brought considerable new light to the intertextual archaeology of Faust and thereby has lent new impulses to Faust criticism. His subtle philological study belongs therefore in the library of any serious Faust reader. * MONATSHEFTE *Goethe's Faust and European Epic is an ambitious book, setting out to demonstrate 'that Faust properly belongs in the sequence of works ... that together constitute the system of European epic.'... Bohm's treatment of the European epic as a dynamic system does a good job of drawing out the aspects of that vast system that are most promising for a reading of Faust, and of allowing these to stand as representative features of the tradition. * CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE *[A] work of extraordinary complexity and sophistication.. When it comes to intimate knowledge and understanding of Goethe's great work and its place amid European letters, [Bohm] ranks with the best. * SEMINAR *The strength of the book lies ... in its deceptively broad learnedness. It deals not only with the history of the epic tradition, but also ... with the great corpus of recent English-language research on the epic of the Renaissance and of the Empire, with the hermeneutics of the epic, and with the interrelationship of natural sciences, magic, and mysticism in the early modern period. * GOETHE JAHRBUCH *Table of ContentsIntroduction Goethe's Epic Ambitions The System of European Epic Faust and Epic History The Roots of Evil "Auerbachs Keller" and Epic History Faust as a Christian Epic The Epic Encyclopedia Postscript: Lest We Forget Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisAt last an engaging and highly readable guide to the works and significance of Goethe. The year 1999 saw the 250th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's greatest writer. Appropriately, literary scholars within Germany and beyond paid tribute to this remarkable talent. But a number of commentators also noted that Goethe is often revered rather than read, known of rather than known. This study remedies this state of affairs by offering an introduction to Goethe and his works for the English-speaking reader -- now inpaperback and with all quotations. The authors concentrate on the literary work and offer analyses that represent an impassioned, but by no means uncritical, advocacy -- one that seeks to persuade both academic critics and general readers alike that Goethe is one of the key figures of European modernity. To an extent that is virtually unique in modern literature, Goethe was active in a whole number of literary genres. He was a superb poet, unrivaled in the variety of his expressive modes, and in his ability to combine intellectual sophistication withexperiential immediacy. He also wrote short stories and novels throughout his life, ranging from the The Sorrows of Young Werther, to The Elective Affinities. He was also a highly skilled dramatist, both in the historical mode and in the classical verse-drama. Above all else, Goethe is the author of Faust: a work that attempts -- and achieves -- more than any other modern European drama. Martin Swales is Professor of German at University College London. Erika Swales is College Lecturer and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.Trade ReviewRecipient of CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award, 2002 * . *Presents a judicious corrective, not only to the tradition of uncritical adulation of Goethe as a cultural monument, but also to some twentieth-century caricatures of Goethe as an escapist poet of untroubled serenity and comforting affirmation. -- John R. Williams, University of St. AndrewsAn invaluable companion reference. * LIBRARY BOOKWATCH *[I]mmense in scale, succinct in its explicit and elaborate readings of Goethe texts, and profound in its assessments of Goethe's accomplishments as a writer. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *An example of excellent scholarship, sensitivity, and attention to the * . *The authors pack in an astonishing number of stimulating suggestions ... For this reader, the close readings of selected poems were outstanding, as were the discussions of 'Goetz,' 'Egmont,' 'Iphigenie,' and 'Tasso,' which put forward concentrated and arresting arguments about each play. * BRITISH JOURNAL OF 18TH-c. STUDIES *...a very good and often thought-provoking read...Mature, experienced, and considered opinions on important works of Goethe. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Poetry Narrative Fiction Drama Faust Goethe's Discursive Writings Conclusion Notes Works Consulted and Works for Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive advanced introduction to and scholarly commentary on the work of the Swiss writer Max Frisch, one of the leading German-language dramatists and novelists of the late twentieth century. One of the most influential German-language writers of the late twentieth century, Max Frisch (1911-1991) not only has canonical status in Europe, but has also been well received in the English-speaking world. English translationsof his works are available in multiple recent editions. Frisch was a recipient of both the Büchner Award (1958), and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1976); his body of work explores questions of identity, alienation, and ethics in modern society. He is best known for the plays Andorra (1961), a seminal drama that examines indifference and mass psychology in the context of the Shoah and continues to be produced by theaters around the world, and Biedermann und die Brandstifter (1958), another worldwide success and one of the most frequently used texts in advanced undergraduate German courses in the United States, as well as for his novels Stiller (1954), Homo Faber (1957), and Mein Name sei Gantenbein (1964). Yet Frisch has only recently begun to receive the sustained scholarly attention he deserves: neither a comprehensive introductory volume to nor a collaborative handbook on the works of Frisch is available in English, a situation that this volume redresses. Contributors: Régine Battiston, Klaus van den Berg, Olaf Berwald, Amanda Charitina Boyd, Céline Letawe, Walter Obschlager, John D. Pizer, Beatrice Sandberg, Caroline Schaumann, Frank Schaumann, Walter Schmitz, Margit Unser, Daniel de Vin, Ruth Vogel-Klein, Paul A. Youngman. Olaf Berwald is Professor of German and Chair of the Departmentof Foreign Languages at Kennesaw State University.Trade ReviewThis companion volume will prove rewarding for students and scholars of Frisch's work and for those familiar with Frisch's ?ction and non-fiction. [It] provides the student and scholar with fresh insights, new critical approaches, and an overview of the secondary literature. * MONATSHEFTE *Given the canonical status enjoyed by Max Frisch . . . , this volume has been a long time coming. It enhances in particular the relatively scant English-speaking secondary literature on Frisch. . . . The volume as a whole offers the reader a well-rounded picture of Frisch's works, their literary context and influences, and thematic affinities with the works of other writers. . . . With some particularly discerning contributions, the volume is an important and informative contribution to Frisch studies in English. . . . [E]ither in hardback or as an e-book, it is a handsome Companion and an essential library acquisition. -- Siobhán Donovan * MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW *This is a true companion to the works of Max Frisch . . ., not, as some 'companions' are, a collection of loosely connected conference papers assembled as an afterthought. There are informative chapters on all the genres Frisch worked in . . . . Frisch's speeches and essays are [also] discussed. . . . Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Max Frisch in the Twenty-First Century Max Frisch's Early Plays Spielraum in Max Frisch's Graf Öderland and Don Juan: Transparency as Mode of Performance Max Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter and Die große Wut des Philipp Hotz Max Frisch's Andorra: Balancing Act between Pattern and Particular Eternal Recurrence in Life and Death in Max Frisch's Late Plays Max Frisch's Early Fiction From Life to Literature: Max Frisch's Frisch's Tagebücher "Writing in order to be a stranger to oneself": Max Frisch's Stiller Cybernetic Flow, Analogy, and Probability in Max Frisch's Homo Faber The Ends of Blindness in Max Frisch's Mein Name sei Gantenbein Max Frisch's Montauk. Eine Erzählung Man, Culture, and Nature in Max Frisch's Der Mensch erscheint im Holozän "My life as a man. Everyman": Max Frisch's Blaubart. Erzählung Max Frisch's Essays and Speeches Frisch's Major Works Select Bibliography Notes on the Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThe Philosopher's English King offers a close reading of the Henriad, presenting Shakespeare's teaching on political authority and contributing to the burgeoning scholarship on Shakespeare as a political thinker. This book on Shakespeare's Henriad studies the tetralogy as a work of political thought. Leon Harold Craig, author of two previous volumes on Shakespeare's political thought, argues that the four plays present Shakespeare'steaching on the problem of legitimacy, or who has the right to rule -- one of the perennial questions of political philosophy. Offering original interpretations of each of the plays, Craig discusses the demise of divine right inRichard II, political upheaval and disputed rule in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and the attempt to reestablish legitimacy on a new basis in Henry V. While focusing especially on the plays' various interpretive puzzles,Craig shows how the four plays constitute one narrative, culminating in the rule of England's most famous warrior king, Henry V, whose brilliant achievements were undone by ill fortune. Craig concludes with an epilogue on what might have been had Henry lived to consolidate his conquest of France and unify it with England under a single crown. Supported by a wealth of scholarship, both historical and critical, The Philosopher's English King makes a major contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on Shakespeare as a political thinker, providing further evidence for why the poet deserves to be recognized as a philosopher in his own right. Leon Harold Craig is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alberta.Trade ReviewI consider this one of the best books ever written on Shakespeare's Henriad. The level of scholarship is second to none. Each chapter is as good as the next. The book is never uneven, and Craig's passion for his subject matter and his desire to share his knowledge with his readers is evident throughout. Not only does one gain many valuable insights into these plays, we are also encouraged to read Shakespeare philosophically, as I am certain Shakespeare wished to be read. * VOEGELINVIEW *Supported by the author's learned command of the relevant English history, this analysis not only serves as a comprehensive overview of the plays' events but also shows how paying attention to even the most minute details and minor characters can shed light on Shakespeare's central figures and plot lines. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Dissenting from Craig requires the disputant's exercising his utmost capacities for philosophical reflection. . . . Because Craig rightly conceives the philosophic poet. * REVIEW OF POLITICS *In The Philosopher's English King Leon Craig once again proves the value of taking Shakespeare seriously as a political thinker. Drawing parallels with important political philosophers, such as Plato, Machiavelli, and Hobbes, Craig illumines some of the darker corners of Shakespeare's history plays and offers a comprehensive interpretation of the tough-minded teaching on kingship they embody. -- Paul A. Cantor, University of VirginiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Prologue Begins the Woefullest Division: The Tragic Reign of King Richard II A Punishing of Mistreadings: The Turbulent Reign of King Henry IV Proceeds The Noble Change Long Purposed: The Turbulent Reign of King Henry IV Concludes A Curious Mirror of Christian Kings: The Brief Glorious Reign of King Henry V An Alternative Epilogue: Imagining What Might Have Been Notes Bibliography Index of Names

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