Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books

Book Synopsis"Two households, both alike in dignity, / In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean." So begins the most famous love story of the modern world. Although their bond is unbreakable, their families are sworn enemies. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare.

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Book SynopsisThe Merry Wives of Windsor (1601) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. Following the success of Henry IV Part I, it is rumored that Queen Elizabeth requested that the bard write a play featuring the character Falstaff in love. Falstaff, a clownish character notable for his bravery and loyalty to King Henry V, remains one of Shakespeare’s most beloved characters. Despite this prominence, it has earned a reputation as one of the playwright’s least staged works. “Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner: come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. Arriving in Windsor with an empty stomach and even emptier pockets, Falstaff comes up with a plan to seduce a wealthy woman. When his servants refuse to deliver his letters to Mistresses Ford and Page—both of them married—he fires Pistol and Nym, who subsequently inform the ladies’ husbands. Eventually, the Mistresses get their hands on Falstaff’s letters and, upon discovering they are exactly the same, conspire to embarrass the aging, overweight bachelor. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisLove’s Labour’s Lost (1596) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. The play was written to be performed for Queen Elizabeth at the Inns of Court, and has frequently been recognized for its length and complex wordplay. Although rarely staged up until the nineteenth century, Love’s Labour’s Lost has seen a resurgence over the last century, serving as source material for musicals, films, and television shows alike. “Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye, / Not utt'red by base sale of chapmen's tongues; / I am less proud to hear you tell my worth / Than you much willing to be counted wise.” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. King Ferdinand of Navarre takes an oath with his closest friends and advisors: for three years, they will commit to dietary moderation and intellectual enrichment, depriving themselves of the company of women. When the Princess of France arrives with her ladies on important business, she finds herself unable to get within a mile of court due to the King’s strict order. One by one, the King and his men fall in love with the French women, though each is unwilling to admit it without first implicating his comrades. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisAs You Like It (1599) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. As You Like It was probably inspired by Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynd, Euphues Golden Legacie (1587), a story based on “The Tale of Gamelyn,” a Middle English romance. For its deconstruction of traditional gender roles and depiction of homoeroticism, As You Like It remains an important and frequently performed play in Shakespeare’s oeuvre. “All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts…” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. When Frederick exiles the Duke and usurps his throne, he allows his daughter Rosalind to remain due to her close friendship with his daughter Celia. When Rosalind is blamed for a conflict between brothers Oliver and Orlando, Frederick banishes her from the duchy. Determined to remain together, the two friends disguise themselves and, joined by the court jester Touchstone, flee for the Forest of Arden. There, Rosalind—in the guise of Ganymede—and Celia—as Aliena—attempt to survive through the kindness of strangers and old acquaintances alike. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisAntony and Cleopatra (1607) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives—a series of biographies on influential figures of the ancient world—Shakespeare wrote Antony and Cleopatra sometime between 1599 and 1601. Often considered a sequel of sorts to his earlier play Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra has served as source material for countless film and television adaptations. “Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch / Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. As the Roman Republic faces threats both foreign and domestic, Mark Antony—a triumvir alongside Lepidus and Octavius—abandons his duties to remain in Alexandria with his lover, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. When the demands of state become impossible to ignore any longer, he returns to Rome. There, he is encouraged to marry Octavia, the sister of his fellow ruler. At the risk of rupturing their fragile relationship, he consents, enraging Cleopatra. As conflict with Octavius forces Antony out of the triumvirate, he returns to his lover to rule over Egypt. But Rome and revenge are never too far away. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisHamlet (1601) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Inspired by Danish historian Saxo Grammatica’s legend of Amleth, which Shakespeare likely encountered in a retelling by French scholar Francois de Belleforest, Hamlet was written sometime between 1599 and 1601. Alongside Romeo and Juliet, it is one of Shakespeare’s most performed plays and has served as source material for countless film and television adaptations. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. Hamlet is a story of things seen and unseen. Ghosts, assassins, shadowy plots, a play within a play, lengthy asides—its universe swirls with paranoia and fear, allowing us to enter the mind of its troubled protagonist. When the ghost of his father appears on the castle rampart, Danish prince Hamlet grows increasingly suspicious of his uncle Polonius’ role in the former king’s death. As his relationships with Ophelia, his lover, and Gertrude, his mother, begin to sour, Hamlet loses sight of his duties as a leader. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisThe Taming of the Shrew (1592) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. Written between 1590 and 1592, The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest works. Frequently critiqued by scholars for its demeaning portrayal of Katherina and for Petruchio’s violence, the play has also been considered as an ironic treatment of the inequality experienced by women in marriage. The Taming of the Shrew has served as source material for countless film and television adaptations, including McClintock! (1963) starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” For his wit and wordplay alone, William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer to ever work in the English language. Where he truly triumphs, however, is in his ability to portray complex human emotions, how these emotions contribute to relationships, and how these relationships interact with politics, culture, and religion. The Taming of the Shrew, like many of Shakespeare’s works, begins with a framing device. Christopher Sly, a notorious drunk, has come to believe that he is a lord. In order to distract him, his fellow denizens of the alehouse stage a play set in Padua. As suitors line up to marry the beautiful young Bianca, they find themselves prevented by her father’s only rule: her older sister Katherina must be married first. Notoriously independent, Katherina—the shrew of the title—simply refuses to tie herself to a man. When Petruchio arrives from Verona in search of a wife, he finds himself up for the challenge. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisLARGE PRINT EDITION. Othello, the general of the Venetian army, holds much power and influence but becomes the target of an insidious plot to steal his coveted position. He is overcome with paranoia and enthralled with rumors of his wife’s potential infidelity. Othello has fallen in love with a senator’s daughter, Desdemona, and the two secretly marry. Their partnership generates shock and confusion as Desdemona was also loved by Roderigo, who’d already asked for her hand. Othello’s ensign, Iago, is envious of the general and is spurned when he promotes the young Cassio to a higher position. This marks the beginning of a plot in which Iago plans to destroy Othello’s personal and professional life. He attacks his marriage by stoking the flames of jealousy, insinuating Desdemona’s infidelity. This leads to a violent confrontation with a morbid outcome. Othello is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known plays. It tackles multiple topics including race, gender, politics and revenge. It’s a gripping drama that details the dangers of greed, envy and their inescapable consequences. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Othello is both modern and readable.

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Book SynopsisLARGE PRINT EDITION. Macbeth, a successful solider, is visited by Three Witches who claim he will soon become king, but his ascension may be thwarted by other parties. Macbeth is driven by ambition and takes drastic steps to secure his place on the throne. After a successful military career in the Scottish army, Macbeth receives life-changing news. Three Witches deliver a prophesy stating that he will be the country’s future king. He shares this information with his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is intrigued by his fate. The duo is concerned about potential threats to his position including the king’s son Malcolm and the army captain, Banquo. Macbeth becomes obsessed with the prophesy, committing acts of violence towards the current King Duncan, his heir and the captain. As Macbeth’s desire for power grows, so does the bloodshed across the kingdom. Macbeth is a haunting prophecy that hinges on the moral decisions of its protagonist. This captivating story highlights the many flaws of man including ego, greed and fear. It’s a brilliant character-driven piece that’s one of Shakespeare’s most adapted and performed plays. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Macbeth is both modern and readable.

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Book SynopsisThe Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920) is a collection of essays by T.S. Eliot. Although Eliot is primarily recognized as one of the twentieth century’s leading English poets, he was also a prolific and highly influential literary critic. This collection, which includes essays on Algernon Charles Swinburne, Hamlet, William Blake, and Dante, is central to Eliot’s legacy and vision of art. In “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot sheds light on his vision of the role of poet with respect to tradition. Well-versed in classical poetry, Eliot possessed a dynamic vision of poetic tradition that viewed the working poet as an extension of those who came before. The role of the poet, then, is to innovate while remaining in conversation with poets throughout history, to remain “impersonal” by surrendering oneself to a process involving countless others. In “Hamlet and His Problems,” Eliot provides a critical reading of Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy arguing that both the play and its main character fail to accomplish the playwright’s true intention. Coining the concept of the “objective correlative,” referring to the expression of emotion through a grouping of things or events, Eliot’s essay is a landmark in literary scholarship central to the formalist movement known as the New Criticism. Concluding with essays on Blake and Dante, important spiritual and formal forebears for Eliot, The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism is central to T.S. Eliot’s legacy as a leading intellectual and artist of the modern era. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of T.S. Eliot’s The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisKing Lear is a prosperous but older man who plans to distribute his wealth among his three daughters in accordance to their declarations of love. Two shower him with compliments while the other is unable to participate in a false display of affection. King Lear decides to step down from the throne and gift his daughters with the spoils of his kingdom. As a test, the size of their inheritance will correlate with how well they flatter him. The two older children, Goneril and Regan, honor him with praise, but his youngest, Cordelia remains quiet. She genuinely loves her father but doesn’t engage in the pageantry. Due to her reluctance, King Lear disowns Cordelia, while his other daughters receive his riches. Once they are settled, Goneril and Regan, begin to marginalize their father, refusing to support him in his old age. This eventually drives him mad as he’s forced to acknowledge the error of his ways. The Tragedy of King Lear is a heartbreaking cautionary tale. The king’s downfall is a direct consequence of his own arrogance. It’s a powerful story that still resonates centuries after its first performance in the 1600s. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Tragedy of King Lear is both modern and readable.

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Book SynopsisMacbeth, a successful solider, is visited by Three Witches who claim he will soon become king, but his ascension may be thwarted by other parties. Macbeth is driven by ambition and takes drastic steps to secure his place on the throne. After a successful military career in the Scottish army, Macbeth receives life-changing news. Three Witches deliver a prophesy stating that he will be the country’s future king. He shares this information with his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is intrigued by his fate. The duo is concerned about potential threats to his position including the king’s son Malcolm and the army captain, Banquo. Macbeth becomes obsessed with the prophesy, committing acts of violence towards the current King Duncan, his heir and the captain. As Macbeth’s desire for power grows, so does the bloodshed across the kingdom. Macbeth is a haunting prophecy that hinges on the moral decisions of its protagonist. This captivating story highlights the many flaws of man including ego, greed and fear. It’s a brilliant character-driven piece that’s one of Shakespeare’s most adapted and performed plays. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Macbeth is both modern and readable.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Elma Dangerfield Prize 2018Byron in Italy – Venetian debauchery, Roman sight-seeing, revolution, horse-riding and swimming, sword-brandishing and pistol-shooting, the poet’s ‘last attachment’ – forms part of the fabric of Romantic mythology. Yet Byron’s time in Italy was crucial to his development as a writer, to Italy’s sense of itself as a nation, to Europe’s perceptions of national identity and to the evolution of Romanticism across Europe. In this volume, Byron scholars from Britain, Europe and beyond re-assess the topic of ‘Byron and Italy’ in all its richness and complexity. They consider Byron’s relationship to Italian literature, people, geography, art, religion and politics, and discuss his navigations between British and Italian identities.Trade Review‘Byron and Italy is a most welcome contribution in the field which offers fresh approaches on current debates and opens new investigative paths by posing searching, original, and timely questions.’ Maria Schoina , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, The BARS Review, no. 51, Spring 2018 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Alan Rawes and Diego Saglia1 The literature of Italy in Byron’s poems of 1817–20 – Nicholas Halmi2 Byron’s ethnographic eye: the poet among the Italians – Gioia Angeletti3 From Lord Nelvil to Dugald Dalgetty: Byron’s Scottish identity in Italy – Jonathan Gross4 The garden of the world: Byron and the geography of Italy – Mauro Pala5 ‘Something I have seen or think it possible to see’: Byron and Italian art in Ravenna – Jane Stabler6 ‘Something sensible to grasp at’: Byron and Italian Catholicism – Bernard Beatty7 The politics of the unities: tragedy and the Risorgimento in Byron and Manzoni – Arnold Anthony Schmidt8 Parisina, Mazeppa and Anglo-Italian displacement – Peter W. Graham9 This ‘still exhaustless mine’: De Staël, Goethe and Byron’s Roman lyricism – Alan Rawes10 Playing with history: Byron’s Italian dramas – Mirka Horová11 ‘Where shall I turn me?’ Italy and irony in Beppo and Don Juan – Diego SagliaIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book takes on a key problem in the history of drama: the ‘exceptional’ staging of the life of Catherine of Siena by a female actor and a female patron in 1468 Metz. Exploring the lives and performances of these previously anonymous women, the book brings the elusive figure of the female performer to centre stage. It integrates new approaches to drama, gender and patronage with a performance methodology to explore how the women of fifteenth-century Metz enacted varied kinds of performance that extended beyond the theatre. For example, decades before the 1468 play, Joan of Arc returned from the grave in the form of an impersonator named Claude. Offering a new paradigm of female performance that positions women at the core of public culture, Performing women is essential reading for scholars of pre-modern women and drama, and is also relevant to lecturers and students of late-medieval performance, religion and memory.Trade Review'We need both a deeper examination of theater archives in their local and temporal specificities and a more capacious notion of what constituted performance in medieval settings. That is precisely what we get in Susannah Crowder’s brilliant and utterly readable new book, Performing Women...Crowder paints a remarkable picture of medieval performing women, who were able to write themselves into community and memory through “the cultivation of material and embodied practice” ...Crowder’s achievement in this inspiring and pioneering book is to have placed women back in the spotlight, showing how they “contributed to their worlds in critical ways that often go unseen”.'H-France Review‘…a brilliant and utterly readable new book…’Noah D. Guynn, University of California, Davis, H-France Review -- .Table of ContentsFamily tree of Catherine Baudoche and Catherine GronnaixIntroduction1 Acting as Catherine: writing the history of female performers2 ‘I, Catherine’: biography, documentary culture, and public presence3 Performance and the parish: space, memory, and material devotion4 Negotiated devotions and performed histories: laywomen in monastic spaces5 ‘Call me Claude’: female actors, impersonation, and cultural transmissionConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis ground-breaking book provides an abundance of fresh insights into Shakespeare's life in relation to his lost family home, New Place. The findings of a major archaeological excavation encourage us to think again about what New Place meant to Shakespeare and, in so doing, challenge some of the long-held assumptions of Shakespearian biography. New Place was the largest house in the borough and the only one with a courtyard. Shakespeare was only ever an intermittent lodger in London. His impressive home gave Shakespeare significant social status and was crucial to his relationship with Stratford-upon-Avon.Archaeology helps to inform biography in this innovative and refreshing study which presents an overview of the site from prehistoric times through to a richly nuanced reconstruction of New Place when Shakespeare and his family lived there, and beyond. This attractively illustrated book is for anyone with a passion for archaeology or Shakespeare.Trade Review'In this book a compelling case is made that from Shakespeare's mid-thirties New Place was always his primary residence; that this is where he lived with his family, and where he did much of his writing; a well-off middle class landowner who never lost touch with his roots.'Michael Wood, Professor in Public History at the University of Manchester'This wonderful book evokes Shakespeare's lost family home, New Place, more completely and tantalisingly than ever before. It sent chills down my spine, because it brings us so vividly close to the real Shakespeare and his life in Stratford. It's a fascinating blend of history and archaeology, packed with engaging detail that places him as never before within an authentic historical context. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.'Alison Weir, historical biographer and author of Elizabeth the Queen'Finding Shakespeare's New Place thinks outside the box, injects common sense, realism and faith in Shakespeare's material reality in time into everything you touch here. All this grows out of an instinctive realisation that these were once real people who got up in Stratford-upon-Avon in the morning, and lived and breathed its airs and seasons.'René Weis, Professor of English at University College London'This biography of a place is also the biography of a person, rich with information about how William Shakespeare designed his life in Stratford-upon-Avon. Joining authoritative archaeological evidence and sensitive architectural re-imaginings, Finding Shakespeare's New Place helps us recover the aspiration, the memory, and the identity that Shakespeare lodged in his lost family home.' Lena Cowen Orlin, Professor of English at Georgetown University and Executive Director of The Shakespeare Association of America‘I salute my fellow ‘Shakespearean archaeologists’.’Julian Bowsher, Current Archaeology, December 2016 -- .Table of ContentsForeword - Michael WoodIntroduction: finding Shakespeare's New Place - Paul Edmondson, Kevin Colls and William Mitchell1. Ancient beginnings: the site of New Place from the prehistoric to the early medieval period - William Mitchell and Kevin Colls 2. The origins of New Place: Hugh Clopton's 'grete house' of c.1483 - William Mitchell and Kevin Colls 3. Shakespeare and Stratford-upon-Avon 1564-96 - Paul Edmondson4. Shakespeare and New Place 1597-1616 and later occupants to 1677 - Paul Edmondson5. A reconstruction of Shakespeare's New Place - Kevin Colls, William Mitchell and Paul Edmondson6. After Shakespeare: New Place from 1677 to 1759 - Kevin Colls and William Mitchell7. The archaeologies of New Place - Kevin Colls and William MitchellClosing remarks - Paul Edmondson, Kevin Colls and William MitchellGlossary of archaeological and architectural terms - William Mitchell and Kevin CollsThe Dig for Shakespeare Academic Advisory Board archaeologists and volunteersIndex

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Book SynopsisSupernatural elements are of central significance in many of Shakespeare's plays, contributing to their dramatic power and intrigue. Ghosts haunt political spaces and internal psyches, witches foresee the future and disturb the present, fairies meddle with love and a magus conjures a tempest from the elements. Although written and performed for early modern audiences, for whom the supernatural, whether sacred, demonic or folkloric, was part of the fabric of everyday life, the supernatural in Shakespeare continues to enthrall audiences and readers, and maintains its power to raise a range of questions in contemporary contexts.This edited collection of twelve essays from an international range of contemporary Shakespeare scholars explores the supernatural in Shakespeare from a variety of perspectives and approaches, generating new knowledge and presenting hitherto unexplored avenues of enquiry across the Shakespearean canon.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Shakespeare and the supernatural – Victoria Bladen and Yan BrailowskyPart I: Embodying the supernatural1 Shakespeare’s political spectres – Victoria Bladen 2 ‘Rudely stamped’: supernatural generation and the limits of power in Shakespeare’s Richard III – Chelsea Phillips 3 Digital puppetry and the supernatural: double Ariel in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Tempest (2017) – Anchuli Felicia KingPart II: Haunted spaces4 Demons and puns: Revisiting the ‘cellarage scene’ in Hamlet – Pierre Kapitaniak5 Performing the Shakespearean supernatural in Avignon: a challenge to the Festival – Florence MarchPart III: Supernatural utterance and haunted texts6 Prophecy and the supernatural: Shakespeare’s challenges to performativity – Yan Brailowsky7 Puck, Philostrate and the locus of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s topical allegory – Laurie Johnson 8 ‘Strange intelligence’: Transformations of witchcraft in Macbeth discourse – William C. CarrollPart IV: Magic, music and gender9 Music and magic in The Tempest: Ariel’s alchemical songs – Natalie Roulon10 From Prospero to Prospera: transforming gender and magic on stage and screen – Katharine Goodland Part V: Contemporary transformations11 ‘I’ll put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes’: representing the supernatural in film adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Gayle Allan12 Ophelia and her magical daughters: the afterlives of Ophelia in Japanese pop culture – Yukari YoshiharaIndex

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Book SynopsisDesigned to introduce the student or general reader to a largely unfamiliar area of Elizabethan theatrical activity, Five Elizabethan progress entertainments focuses on a group of entertainments mounted for the monarch in the closing years of her reign. Richly annotated, and prefaced by a substantial introduction, the texts enable an understanding of the motives underlying not only the progress itself, but the choice of locations the monarch elected to visit and the personal and political preoccupations of those with whom she determined to stay. Selected for their diversity, the entertainments exhibit the tensions underlying some royal visits, the lavish expenditure entailed for the monarch’s hosts and the overlap in terms of both material and authorship between the progress entertainments and the more widely studied products of the sixteenth-century stage.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION: THE ROYAL PROGRESS THE ENTERTAINMENT AT COWDRAYIntroductionText THE ENTERTAINMENT AT ELVETHAMIntroductionText THE ENTERTAINMENT AT BISHAMIntroductionText THE ENTERTAINMENT AT MITCHAM IntroductionTextAppendixTHE ENTERTAINMENT AT CHISWICKIntroductionTextINDEX

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Book SynopsisThis book shows that William Shakespeare was a more personal writer than any of his innumerable commentators have realised. It asserts that numerous characters and events were drawn from the author's life, and puts faces to the names of Jaques, Touchstone, Feste, Jessica, the 'Dark Lady' and others. Steven Sohmer explores aspects of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets that have been hitherto overlooked or misinterpreted in an effort to better understand the man and his work. If you've ever wondered who Pigrogromitus was, or why Jaques spies on Touchstone and Audrey - or what the famous riddle M.O.A.I. stands for - this is the book for you.Trade Review'Packed with brilliantly original close readings of points most critics and editors have skimmed over.'Andy Gurr, University of Reading'In his searching and erudite new book, Steve Sohmer re-examines passages which have baffled generations of annotators, and finds evidence of a personal Shakespeare visible through the textual aporia of his plays.'Michael Dobson, Shakespeare Institute'Adventurous, inventive, iconoclastic Steve Sohmer invites us to rethink what lies behind the references in a number of Shakespeare's plays. A tour de force that launches out from the familiar pathways of Shakespeare scholarship and biography to challenge and disturb accepted wisdom. Sohmer has an acute eye for the unusual and the unexplained, and his textual discoveries are imbued with a striking audacity that builds surprising edifices on the formal foundations of a familiar historical context. Whether it's the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, who in Sohmer's historical imagination morphs into Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, or what lies behind the Oldcastle/Falstaff controversy in the Second Tetralogy, or the puzzling details of Maria's letter for Malvolio in Twelfth Night, or the real people lurking behind Shakespeare's dramatic characters: Sohmer tracks them down to uncover a personal sub-text for the plays that offers us a window into Shakespeare's elusive creative consciousness. This is a book that is at once knowledgeable, speculative, and, above all, entertaining.' John Drakakis, University of Sterling'Steve Sohmer's well-stocked mind can be relied upon to produce intriguingly fresh perspectives on Shakespeare's plays.'Stanley Wells, Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust‘Not only does Sohmer get to the point, but he also makes enough of them to keep the reader continually interested, even if one disagrees with some of his conclusions. In a blurb on the book’s jacket, Sir Stanley Wells notes that “Sohmer’s well-stocked mind can be relied upon to produce intriguingly fresh perspectives on Shakespeare’s plays.” Sohmer’s perspectives are not always persuasive, but they are indeed fresh and stimulating takes on the work.’Sean Benson, University of Dubuque‘The ever bold Steve Sohmer rejects faddish but misguided efforts to deracinate Shakespeare’s texts from its roots in his life; instead, Sohmer accepts Sigurd Burkardt’s challenge that we try to read Shakespeare’s mind, attentive to all the overlooked or misunderstood clues in his works … He is controversial but often persuasive, as he notes that Shakespeare’s contemporary audiences and readers would ‘catch every nuance, intimation, allusion, and innuendo of London life’.’Richard M. Waugaman, Georgetown University, 71.1 (Spring 2018) issue of Renaissance Quarterly -- .Table of ContentsPreface: Impersonal ShakespearePart I: Shakespeare, lovers and friends1. Joining the mice-eyed decipherers2. Marlowe's ghost in As You Like It3. The dark lady of The Merchant of VenicePart II: Queen Elizabeth's Twelfth Night4. Twelfth Night on Twelfth Night5. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night wordplay6. Shakespeare and Paul in Illyria7. Nashe and Harvey in Illyria8. M.O.A.I. deciphered at last9. Beginning at the beginning10. Tributes private and publicEpilogue: Personal ShakespeareIndex

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Book SynopsisThomas May's The Tragedy of Antigone (1631), edited by Matteo Pangallo, is the first English treatment of the story made famous by Sophocles. This edition contains a facsimile of the copy held at the Beinecke Library of Yale University, making the play commercially available for the first time since its original publication. The extensive introduction discusses, among other things, the ownership history of existing copies and their marginal annotations, and of the play's topical political implications in the light of May's wavering between royalist and republican sympathies. Writing during the contentious early years of Charles I's reign, May used Sophocles' Antigone to explore the problems of just rule and justified rebellion. He also went beyond the scope of the original, adding content from a wide range of other classical and contemporary plays, poems and other sources, including Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. This volume will be essential reading for advanced students, researchers and teachers of early English drama and seventeenth-century political history.Table of ContentsIntroductionTextual NotesFacsimile of the play

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Book SynopsisThe Twice-Chang’d Friar is one of four early seventeenth-century plays preserved in a manuscript miscellany in the library of the Newdigate family of Arbury Hall, Nuneaton (Arbury Hall MS A414). The play, which appears to have been written by family member and drama lover John Newdigate III, is thought to be unique to this manuscript. This edition makes the play available in print for the first time. The Twice Chang’d Friar is an Italianate city comedy based on a tale from Boccaccio’s Decameron. It tells the story of Albert, a friar who seduces Lisetta, a beautiful Venetian merchant’s wife by persuading her that he is the incarnation of Cupid. Albert’s plot is eventually uncovered by Lisetta’s brothers, whom he escapes by disguising himself in a bear’s skin. The play is a fascinating example of an amateur manuscript drama, of interest to all scholars and students of early modern drama.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION Provenance Physical Description Paper and Watermarks - Hand - Marginal Annotations - Authorship Date Audience and Performance Editorial ConventionsPLATESTHE TEXT

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2016 Shakespeare's Globe Book AwardThe first comprehensive study of Shakespeare’s storms. Whether the apocalyptic storm of King Lear or the fleeting thunder imagery of Hamlet, or the thunderbolt of Pericles, there is an instance of storm in every one of Shakespeare’s plays.This book explains the storm effects used in early modern playhouses, and how they filter into Shakespeare’s dramatic language. With chapters on Julius Caesar, King Lear, Macbeth, Pericles and The Tempest, Jones traces the development of the storm over the second half of the playwright’s career, when Shakespeare took the storm to new extremes. Interspersed are chapters on thunder, lightning, wind and rain, in which Jones reveals Shakespeare’s meteorological understanding and offers nuanced readings of his imagery. Throughout, Shakespeare’s Storms brings theatre history to bear on modern theories of literature and the environment.Trade Review‘Jones is evocative in his attempts to imagine the volume and spectacle of these events in a quieter world, one “without traffic and aircraft noises or cinema or volume controls” in which a natural storm might have been “a touchstone of loudness.”’Elizabeth Scott-Baumann TLS, March 2016‘Gwilym Jones’s Shakespeare’s Storms offers an engaging and informative discussion of storms — and all of their constituent parts — and the theatrical presentations of those storms.’Darlene Farabee, University of South Dakota, Renaissance Quarterly Vol LXIX, No. 3‘The book is masterfully organised into nine chapters that cover just about every aspect of storms in Shakespeare. Beginning with ‘thunder’ (a fine way to begin a book)’Simon C. Estok, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Studies in Ecocriticism - February 2017‘Shakespeare's Storms is a remarkably well-plotted book.’Edward J. Geisweidt, University of New Haven, Early Theatre 20.1‘Shakespeare’s Storms’ overall achievement is to prove the relevance of chasing something as seemingly ephemeral as the weather in order to reveal how such meteorological phenomena shape our relationship to the world around us. It is an original and fascinating study that will be of interest to scholars researching ecocriticism, performance history, and early modern drama from a range of thematic and practical approaches.’Miranda Fay Thomas, Shakespeare’s Globe, London, Symbolism 17 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Thunder2. Storm and the spectacular: Julius Caesar3. Lightning4. King Lear: storm and the event5. Wind6. Macbeth: supernatural storms, equivocal earthquakes7. Rain8. Pericles: storm and scripture9. The Tempest: storm and theatrical reality Conclusion BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book is not merely a study of Shakespeare’s debt to Montaigne. It traces the evolution of self-consciousness in literary, philosophical and religious writings from antiquity to the Renaissance and demonstrates that its early modern forms first appeared in the Essays and in Shakespearean drama. It shows, however, that, contrary to some postmodern assumptions, the early calling in question of the self did not lead to a negation of identity. Montaigne acknowledged the fairly stable nature of his personality and Shakespeare, as Dryden noted, maintained 'the constant conformity of each character to itself from its very first setting out in the Play quite to the End'. A similar evolution is traced in the progress from an objective to a subjective apprehension of time from Greek philosophy to early modern authors. A final chapter shows that the influence of scepticism on Montaigne and Shakespeare was counterbalanced by their reliance on permanent humanistic values.Trade Review‘Although this is a new book, it hails from another era. Ellrodt’s reading is prodigious, but he presents his arguments within an understanding of literary history that may seem narrowly conceived from the perspective of present-day early modernists. Shakespeareans and Montaignistes will nonetheless do well to read this study — and to test their intuitions against the considered judgments of a lifelong student of Western thought and literature.’William M. Hamlin, Washington State University, Renaissance Quarterly Vol LXIX, No. 3 -- .Table of Contents1. New forms of self-consciousness in Montaigne2. The progress of subjectivity from Antiquity to Montaigne3. Shakespeare and the new aspects of subjectivity4. Complexity and coherence of the Shakespearean characters5. Subjective Time in Montaigne and Shakespeare6. Scepticism and stable humanistic valuesEpilogue: The wisdom of Montaigne and ShakespeareBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book deals with Shakespeare’s role in contemporary culture. It looks in detail at the way that Shakespeare’s plays inform modern ideas of cultural value and the work required to make Shakespeare part of modern culture. It is unique in using social policy, anthropology and economics, as well as close readings of the playwright, to show how a text from the past becomes part of contemporary culture and how Shakespeare’s writing informs modern ideas of cultural value. It goes beyond the twentieth-century cultural studies debates that argued the case for and against Shakespeare’s status, to show how he can exist both as a free artistic resource and as a branded product in the cultural marketplace.It will appeal not only to scholars studying Shakespeare, but also to educators and any reader interested in contemporary cultural policy.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Culture, value, Shakespeare1. Advocacy and analysis2. The value of value3. Value and Shakespeare 4. Culture and value 5. Making ‘Shakespeare’culture6. Government and the values of culture7. Value in Shakespeare institutions 8. Branding Shakespeare Afterword: the continuity of cultural valueBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays offers a major reassessment of the meaning and significance of emotional experience in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Recent scholarship on early modern emotion has relied on a medical-historical approach, resulting in a picture of emotional experience that stresses the dominance of the material, humoral body. The Renaissance of emotion seeks to redress this balance by examining the ways in which early modern texts explore emotional experience from perspectives other than humoral medicine. The chapters in the book seek to demonstrate how open, creative and agency-ridden the experience and interpretation of emotion could be. Taken individually, the chapters offer much-needed investigations into previously overlooked areas of emotional experience and signification; taken together, they offer a thorough re-evaluation of the cultural priorities and phenomenological principles that shaped the understanding of the emotive self in this period.Trade Review‘The Renaissance of Emotion seeks to broaden our frame of reference, locating early modern emotions within a wider cultural framework of religion, philosophy, politics, and rhetoric.’Katharine A. Craik, Oxford Brookes University, Renaissance Quarterly 69.4 (Winter 2016)‘An important collection of essays that can stand as a survey-sample of some of the best work currently being done in the field. The thoughtful and carefully argued introduction offers a historiographical overview of the rise to prominence of the emotions in philosophy, psychology and literary studies, challenges some of the established critical orthodoxies, and opens some avenues into new research.’Freya Sierhuis (York), Bücherschau‘Every well-crafted essay has something genuinely original to offer and which is indeed taking discussion forward.’Lesel Dawson is a senior lecturer at in the department of English at Bristol University. Eric Langley is a lecturer in the department of English at University College London, Early Theatre 20.1 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Richard Meek and Erin Sullivan Part I: The theology and philosophy of emotion 1: The passions of Thomas Wright: Renaissance emotion across body and soul – Erin Sullivan 2: ‘The scripture moveth us in sundry places’: framing biblical emotions in the Book of Common Prayer and the Homilies – David Bagchi 3: ‘This was a way to thrive’: Christian and Jewish eudaimonism in The Merchant of Venice – Sara Coodin 4: Robert Burton, perfect happiness and the visio dei – Mary Ann Lund Part II: Shakespeare and the language of emotion 5: Spleen in Shakespeare’s comedies – Nigel Wood 6: ‘Rue even for ruth’: Richard II and the imitation of sympathy – Richard Meek 7: What’s happiness in Hamlet? – Richard Chamberlain Part III: The performance of emotion 8: ‘They that tread in a maze’: movement as emotion in John Lyly – Andy Kesson 9: (S)wept from power: two versions of tyrannicide in Richard III – Ann Kaegi 10: The affective scripts of early modern execution and murder – Frederika Bain 11: Discrepant emotional awareness in Shakespeare – R. S. White and Ciara Rawnsley Afterword – Peter Holbrook Index

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Book SynopsisGeorge Chapman is known today as a translator of Homer and as the author of dark tragedies such as Bussy D'Ambois. An Humorous Day's Mirth was one of the most popular plays of the Elizabethan era. Not only was it the Rose Theatre's greatest box-office success of 1597, it also presented an entirely new type of comedy, one that has profoundly influenced comic writing up to the present day. This play is the English theatre's first 'comedy of humours', in which the attitudes, behaviour, and social pretensions of contemporary men and women are satirised. Charles Edelman's is the first fully annotated, modern spelling edition of this long-neglected play. In his extensive introduction and commentary, Edelman discusses the intellectual, philosophical and theatrical background, and shows that the play would delight the readers and audiences of today as much as those in 1597.Table of ContentsGeneral editors' preface Editions and Textual Studies Collated, in Chronological Order Editions of Early Modern Dramatic Works cited in Commentary Other Primary Works Cited in Commentary Secondary Works Cited in Commentary Abbreviations: Notes and collation Introduction The Rose’s New Hit A Typical London Day The Philosophy of Mirth The Four Humours The Humours and the soul Melancholy A Comedy of Manners From Page to Stage The Text Conclusion An Humorous Day's Mirth Appendix: Dowsecer's Defence of Cosmetics (7.00-00)

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Book SynopsisThis volume proposes new insights into the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, focusing on interweaving processes in early modern appropriations of myth. Its 11 essays show how early modern writing intertwines diverse myths and plays with variant versions of individual myths that derive from multiple classical sources, as well as medieval, Tudor and early modern retellings and translations. Works discussed include poems and plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and others. Essays concentrate on specific plays including The Merchant of Venice and Dido Queen of Carthage, tracing interactions between myths, chronicles, the Bible and contemporary genres. Mythological figures are considered to demonstrate how the weaving together of sources deconstructs gendered representations. New meanings emerge from these readings, which open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.Trade Review‘Each chapter clearly fulfills the collection’s purpose, to reinvestigate the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his peers. The craftsmanship metaphor inherent in the title is apt, given the prevalence of the weaver’s art in foundational narratives from the ancient world and the aesthetic of Ovidian storytelling with its multiplex interconnecting strands. Indeed, the readings “open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.”….I cannot recommend Interweaving Myths highly enough to experts in the field, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates who wish to learn from a group of scholars whose offerings are accessible as well as sophisticated and innovative.’M. L. Stapleton, Purdue University‘Interweaving Myths distinguishes itself not only through its nuanced attention to the subtleties of mythological reception, with contributors stressing that classical authors were themselves ‘receptors and crafters’ of ‘multi-faceted figures and tropes’, but also through the number of chapters that identify instances of early modern authors engaging with ancient Greek sources … many of the chapters … are especially concerned with the gendered or political implications of mythological allusion or patterning in early modern literature. This interest provides an ongoing thread that helps to unite the chapters in this collection, despite the diverse texts and tropes that are considered; recurring references to the framing concepts of interweaving and feuilletage, as well as to Shakespeare’s works, further contribute to the collection’s overall coherence.’Chloe Kathleen Preedy, University of Exeter, Journal of the Northern Renaissance, August 2018‘Big-name literary texts (especially Ovid and Shakespeare) dominate, but they have a lot of company, with considerable attention paid to less often read authors (notably Thomas Heywood, the subject of an online editing project which Peyre´ heads), as well as the great and irregular array of other channels (mythographies, some very free ‘translations’, commentaries, dictionaries, sententiae, annotations which a previous reader made in the copy you happened to be reading, burlesques and travesties) through which knowledge of classical literature actually found its way to early modern consumers. These interests themselves are not in the contemporary scholarly context innovative, but the energy with which they are brought to bear is inventive and skilfully sustained.’Gordon Braden, University of Virginia, Cahiers E´lisabe´thains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies 97(1)‘This collection of thoughtful essays identifies classical mythology as a potent source of inspiration for early modern intertextual experiments. Because myths reached the period’s authors in multiple textual forms, their meanings offered both overlapping and conflicting tensions. As the book’s editors adroitly show, this multiplicity suggests new models for reimagining literary composition through layered multi-author conversations … Together, these essays form a moving testament to the complex literary possibilities mobilized by persistent prototypes from the ancient world.’T. Pollard, Brooklyn college, Choice Reviews‘This collection of eleven contributions is an in-depth investigation of the interweaving process at work in Elizabethan poets and dramatists’ use of classical mythology. I highly recommend this scholarly, stimulating and excellently written volume.’Jean-Jacques Chardin, Universite de Strasbourg, Revue XVII-XVIII, January 2019 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: ‘Ariachne’s broken woof’ – Janice Valls-Russell, Agnès Lafont and Charlotte Coffin1 Shakespeare’s mythological feuilletage: A methodological induction – Yves Peyré2 The non-Ovidian Elizabethan epyllion: Thomas Watson, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Barnfield – Tania Demetriou3 ‘This realm is an empire’: Tales of origins in medieval and early modern France and England – Dominique Goy-Blanquet4 Trojan shadows in Shakespeare’s King John – Janice Valls-Russell5 Venetian Jasons, parti-coloured lambs and a tainted wether: Ovine tropes and the Golden Fleece in The Merchant of Venice – Atsuhiko Hirota 6 Fifty ways to kill your brother: Medea and the poetics of fratricide in early modern English literature – Katherine Heavey 7 ‘She, whom Jove transported into Crete’: Europa, between consent and rape – Gaëlle Ginestet8 Subtle weavers, mythological interweavings and feminine political agency: Penelope and Arachne in early modern drama – Nathalie Rivère de Carles 9 Multi-layered conversations in Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage – Agnès Lafont10 Burlesque or neoplatonic? Popular or elite? The shifting value of classical mythology in Love’s Mistress – Charlotte Coffin11 Pygmalion, once and future myth: Instead of a conclusion – Ruth MorseIndex

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Book SynopsisThis volume proposes new insights into the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, focusing on interweaving processes in early modern appropriations of myth. Its 11 essays show how early modern writing intertwines diverse myths and plays with variant versions of individual myths that derive from multiple classical sources, as well as medieval, Tudor and early modern retellings and translations. Works discussed include poems and plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and others. Essays concentrate on specific plays including The Merchant of Venice and Dido Queen of Carthage, tracing interactions between myths, chronicles, the Bible and contemporary genres. Mythological figures are considered to demonstrate how the weaving together of sources deconstructs gendered representations. New meanings emerge from these readings, which open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.Trade Review‘Each chapter clearly fulfills the collection’s purpose, to reinvestigate the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his peers. The craftsmanship metaphor inherent in the title is apt, given the prevalence of the weaver’s art in foundational narratives from the ancient world and the aesthetic of Ovidian storytelling with its multiplex interconnecting strands. Indeed, the readings “open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.”….I cannot recommend Interweaving Myths highly enough to experts in the field, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates who wish to learn from a group of scholars whose offerings are accessible as well as sophisticated and innovative.’M. L. Stapleton, Purdue University‘Interweaving Myths distinguishes itself not only through its nuanced attention to the subtleties of mythological reception, with contributors stressing that classical authors were themselves ‘receptors and crafters’ of ‘multi-faceted figures and tropes’, but also through the number of chapters that identify instances of early modern authors engaging with ancient Greek sources … many of the chapters … are especially concerned with the gendered or political implications of mythological allusion or patterning in early modern literature. This interest provides an ongoing thread that helps to unite the chapters in this collection, despite the diverse texts and tropes that are considered; recurring references to the framing concepts of interweaving and feuilletage, as well as to Shakespeare’s works, further contribute to the collection’s overall coherence.’Chloe Kathleen Preedy, University of Exeter, Journal of the Northern Renaissance, August 2018‘Big-name literary texts (especially Ovid and Shakespeare) dominate, but they have a lot of company, with considerable attention paid to less often read authors (notably Thomas Heywood, the subject of an online editing project which Peyre´ heads), as well as the great and irregular array of other channels (mythographies, some very free ‘translations’, commentaries, dictionaries, sententiae, annotations which a previous reader made in the copy you happened to be reading, burlesques and travesties) through which knowledge of classical literature actually found its way to early modern consumers. These interests themselves are not in the contemporary scholarly context innovative, but the energy with which they are brought to bear is inventive and skilfully sustained.’Gordon Braden, University of Virginia, Cahiers E´lisabe´thains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies 97(1)‘This collection of thoughtful essays identifies classical mythology as a potent source of inspiration for early modern intertextual experiments. Because myths reached the period’s authors in multiple textual forms, their meanings offered both overlapping and conflicting tensions. As the book’s editors adroitly show, this multiplicity suggests new models for reimagining literary composition through layered multi-author conversations … Together, these essays form a moving testament to the complex literary possibilities mobilized by persistent prototypes from the ancient world.’T. Pollard, Brooklyn college, Choice Reviews‘This collection of eleven contributions is an in-depth investigation of the interweaving process at work in Elizabethan poets and dramatists’ use of classical mythology. I highly recommend this scholarly, stimulating and excellently written volume.’Jean-Jacques Chardin, Universite de Strasbourg, Revue XVII-XVIII, January 2019 -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: ‘Ariachne’s broken woof’ – Janice Valls-Russell, Agnès Lafont and Charlotte Coffin1 Shakespeare’s mythological feuilletage: A methodological induction – Yves Peyré2 The non-Ovidian Elizabethan epyllion: Thomas Watson, Christopher Marlowe, Richard Barnfield – Tania Demetriou3 ‘This realm is an empire’: Tales of origins in medieval and early modern France and England – Dominique Goy-Blanquet4 Trojan shadows in Shakespeare’s King John – Janice Valls-Russell5 Venetian Jasons, parti-coloured lambs and a tainted wether: Ovine tropes and the Golden Fleece in The Merchant of Venice – Atsuhiko Hirota 6 Fifty ways to kill your brother: Medea and the poetics of fratricide in early modern English literature – Katherine Heavey 7 ‘She, whom Jove transported into Crete’: Europa, between consent and rape – Gaëlle Ginestet8 Subtle weavers, mythological interweavings and feminine political agency: Penelope and Arachne in early modern drama – Nathalie Rivère de Carles 9 Multi-layered conversations in Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage – Agnès Lafont10 Burlesque or neoplatonic? Popular or elite? The shifting value of classical mythology in Love’s Mistress – Charlotte Coffin11 Pygmalion, once and future myth: Instead of a conclusion – Ruth MorseIndex

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents a modernised edition of Christopher Marlowe’s critical engagement with one of the bloodiest and traumatic episodes of the French Wars of Religion, the wholesale massacre of French Huguenots in Paris in August, 1572. Sensorily shocking and intellectually gripping, the play’s dramatic action spans a tumultuous two decades in French history to unfold for its audience the tragic consequences of religious fanaticism, power politics, and dynastic rivalry. Comprehensively introduced and containing full commentary notes, this edition opens up this frequently neglected but historically significant and dramatically powerful play to student and scholar alike. The introduction examines such topics as the history of the massacre, the play’s treatment of its sources, the play’s dramatisation of trauma, and the play’s exploration of notions of religious toleration.Table of ContentsIntroduction The Massacre at Paris Appendix: The Collier Leaf Index

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Book SynopsisSamuel Beckett and trauma is the first book that specifically addresses the question of trauma in Beckett, taking into account the recent rise of trauma studies in literature. Beckett is an author whose works are strongly related to the psychological and historical trauma of our age. His works not only explore the multifarious aspects of trauma but also radically challenge our conception of trauma itself by the unique syntax of language, aesthetics of fragmentation, bodily malfunctions and the creation of void. Instead of simply applying current trauma theories to Beckett, this book provides new perspectives that will expand and alter them by employing other theoretical frameworks in literature, theatre, art, philosophy and psychoanalysis. It will inspire anybody interested in literature and trauma, including specialists and students working on twentieth-century world literature, comparative studies, trauma studies and theatre /art.Table of ContentsIntroduction – Mariko Hori Tanaka, Yoshiki Tajiri and Michiko Tsushima with Robert EaglestonePart I: Trauma symptoms1. Beckett and trauma: father’s death and the sea – Julie Campbell2. ‘Void cannot go’: trauma and actor process in the theatre of Samuel Beckett – Nicholas E. JohnsonPart II: Body and subjectivity3. Insignificant residues: trauma, face and figure in Samuel Beckett – David Houston Jones4. ‘The skin of words’: trauma and skin in Watt – Michiko Tsushima5. Bodily object voices in Embers – Anna SiggPart III: Historical and cultural contexts6. Trauma and ordinary objects in Virginia Woolf and Samuel Beckett – Yoshiki Tajiri7. Smiling tigers: trauma, sexuality and creaturely life in Echo’s Bones – Conor Carville8. The global trauma of the nuclear age in Beckett’s post-war plays – Mariko hori tanakaIndex

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