Description
Book SynopsisRichard III, Troilus and Cressida, and Antony and Cleopatra were figures of intense signification long before Shakespeare gave them new life. When he did, Charnes argues, he used them to explore notorious identitya new kind of infamy based not on the moral and ethical use value of legend but on a commodification of identity itself.
Trade ReviewAn impressive virtuoso performance on an important topic in Shakespearean cultural studies… The book’s strengths lie in its ability to conduct clever textual analyses…couched in skillfully maneuvered, diverse theoretical contexts;…its generally rich and sophisticated tissue of associate, interdisciplinary European post-modernist discourses…and popular culture topics;…and its occasional penetrating historical and cultural generalizations… This is a prodigious first attempt and it deserves praise for that reason. In subject and ambition, it should make for serious reading in post-modernist Shakespeare. -- Imtiaz Habib * South Carolina Review *
A dazzling and challenging book. -- Catherine Belsey, University of Wales College of Cardiff
Charnes’s writing is witty, and the book as a whole is wonderfully fresh, not only in the originality of its analysis, but also in its irreverence toward received opinion. -- Michael D. Bristol, McGill University
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Belaboring the Obvious Reading the Monstrous Body in King Richard 3 2. "So Unsecret to Ourselves" Notorious Identity and the Material Subject in Troilus and Cressida 3. Spies and Whispers Exceeding Reputation in Antony and Cleopatra Conclusion Epilogue Notes Index
