Description
Book SynopsisOffers an account of Shakespeare's comic transcendence, showing how Shakespeare, by taking on the great themes of his time, elevated comedy from a mere mid-level literary form to its own form of greatness - on par with epic and tragedy.
Trade Review"This book provides a provocative, useful and direct invitation to students to read these plays just as seriously as they would
Hamlet or
Antony and Cleopatra."—Elizabeth Scott-Baumann,
Times Literary Supplement -- Elizabeth Scott-Baumann * Times Literary Supplement *
"This book teaches delightfully and about the art of instruction and the art of living and growing quite as much as about the art of Shakespeare the commercial dramatist who always gives audiences more than they pay for."—Leonard R. N. Ashley,
Biblothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance -- Leonard R. N. Ashley * Biblothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance *
"This book's bibliographical apparatus makes it a valuable library addition and may lead some readers to the mapping of uncharted landscapes in the study of Shakespeare's comedies."—F. Nicholas Clary,
Sixteenth Century Journal -- F. Nicholas Clary * Sixteenth Century Journal *
Table of ContentsPreface; List of Illustrations; List of Maps1. On Historical Understandings of Shakespeare's Works; 2. Shakespeare and the Invention of Grand Comic Form; 3. Shakespearean Comedic Myths; 4. Biblical Intertext and Biblical Holiday: Comedy and Sacred Story; 5. Comedy and Empire: The Comedy of Imperial Conquest; 6. Measure for Measure as Form, Myth, and Scripture; 7. And In Conclusion
