Description

Book Synopsis

Shakespeare: Criticism and Theory is an anthology of the most significant essays and book chapters published on Shakespeare in the second half of the twentieth century.

  • An anthology of about 50 of the most significant essays and book chapters published on Shakespeare in the second half of the twentieth century.
  • Introduces students to the variety of theoretical positions, thematic claims, methodologies, and modes of argument in Shakespeare criticism over the last 50 years.
  • Critical views represented range from the old style historicism of E.M.W. Tillyard and the new criticism of William Empson to the new historicism of Stephen Greenblatt and the feminist perspective of Catherine Belsey.
  • Pieces are organised into categories of critical thought and introduced in clear language.
  • Most pieces are reproduced in their entirety.


Table of Contents

Preface x

Acknowledgments xiv

Part I Authorship 1

1 Looney and the Oxfordians 4
S. Schoenbaum

Part II New Criticism 15

2 The Naked Babe and the Cloak of Manliness 19
Cleanth Brooks

3 ‘‘Honest’’ in Othello 35
William Empson

4 ‘‘Introductory’’ Chapter About the Tragedies 50
Wolfgang Clemen

5 The ‘‘New Criticism’’ and King Lear 63
William R. Keast

Part III Dramatic Kinds 89

6 The Argument of Comedy 93
Northrop Frye

7 Ambivalence: The Dialectic of the Histories 100
A. P. Rossiter

8 The Saturnalian Pattern 116
C. L. Barber

9 The Jacobean Shakespeare: Some Observations on the Construction of the Tragedies 125
Maynard Mack

Part IV The 1950s and 1960s: Theme, Character, Structure 149

10 Reflections on the Sentimentalist’s Othello 152
Barbara Everett

11 Form and Formality in Romeo and Juliet 164
Harry Levin

12 King Lear or Endgame 174
Jan Kott

13 The Cheapening of the Stage 191
Anne Righter [Barton]

14 How Not to Murder Caesar 209
Sigurd Burckhardt

Part V Reader-Response Criticism 221

15 On the Value of Hamlet 225
Stephen Booth

16 Rabbits, Ducks, and Henry V 245
Norman Rabkin

Part VI Textual Criticism and Bibliography 265

17 The New Textual Criticism of Shakespeare 269
Fredson Bowers

18 Revising Shakespeare 280
Gary Taylor

19 Narratives About Printed Shakespeare Texts: ‘‘Foul Papers’’ and ‘‘Bad Quartos’’ 296
Paul Werstine

Part VII Psychoanalytic Criticism 319

20 ‘‘Anger’s my meat’’: Feeding, Dependency, and Aggression in Coriolanus 323
Janet Adelman

21 The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear 338
Stanley Cavell

22 To Entrap the Wisest: Sacrificial Ambivalence in The Merchant of Venice and Richard III 353
René Girard

23 What Did the King Know and When Did He Know It? Shakespearean Discourses and Psychoanalysis 365
Harry Berger, Jr.

24 The Turn of the Shrew 399
Joel Fineman

Part VIII Historicism and New Historicism 417

25 The Cosmic Background 422
E. M. W. Tillyard

26 Invisible Bullets: Renaissance Authority and its Subversion, Henry IV and Henry V 435
Stephen Greenblatt

27 The New Historicism in Renaissance Studies 458
Jean E. Howard

28 ‘‘Shaping Fantasies’’: Figurations of Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture 481
Louis Adrian Montrose

Part IX Materialist Criticism 511

29 Shakespeare’s Theater: Tradition and Experiment 515
Robert Weimann

30 King Lear (ca. 1605–1606) and Essentialist Humanism 535
Jonathan Dollimore

31 Give an Account of Shakespeare and Education, Showing Why You Think They Are Effective and What You Have Appreciated About Them. Support Your Comments with Precise References 547
Alan Sinfield

Part X Feminist Criticism 565

32 Egyptian Queens and Male Reviewers: Sexist Attitudes in Antony and Cleopatra Criticism 570
L. T. Fitz [Linda Woodbridge]

33 ‘‘I wooed thee with my sword’’: Shakespeare’s Tragic Paradigms 591
Madelon Gohlke Sprengnether

34 The Family in Shakespeare Studies; or Studies in the Family of Shakespeareans; or The Politics of Politics 606
Lynda E. Boose

35 Disrupting Sexual Difference: Meaning and Gender in the Comedies 633
Catherine Belsey

Part XI Studies in Gender and Sexuality 651

36 ‘‘This that you call love’’: Sexual and Social Tragedy in Othello 655
Gayle Greene

37 The Performance of Desire 669
Stephen Orgel

38 The Secret Sharer 684
Bruce R. Smith

39 The Homoerotics of Shakespearean Comedy 704
Valerie Traub

Part XII Performance Criticism 727

40 Shakespeare and the Blackfriars Theatre 732
Gerald Eades Bentley

41 The Critical Revolution 745
J. L. Styan

42 William Shakespeare’s Romeo þ Juliet : Everything’s Nice in America? 750
Barbara Hodgdon

43 Deeper Meanings and Theatrical Technique: The Rhetoric of Performance Criticism 762
William B. Worthen

Part XIII Postcolonial Shakespeare 777

44 Nymphs and Reapers Heavily Vanish: The Discursive Con-texts of The Tempest 781
Francis Barker and Peter Hulme

45 Sexuality and Racial Difference 794
Ania Loomba

46 Discourse and the Individual: The Case of Colonialism in The Tempest 817
Meredith Anne Skura

Part XIV Reading Closely 845

47 Shakespeare’s Prose 848
Jonas A. Barish

48 The Play of Phrase and Line 861
George T. Wright

49 Transfigurations: Shakespeare and Rhetoric 880
Patricia Parker

Index 908

Shakespeare

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    A Paperback / softback by Russ McDonald

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      Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Publication Date: 02/12/2003
      ISBN13: 9780631234883, 978-0631234883
      ISBN10: 0631234888
      Also in:
      ELT & Literary Studies Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Literature: history and criticism

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Shakespeare: Criticism and Theory is an anthology of the most significant essays and book chapters published on Shakespeare in the second half of the twentieth century.

      • An anthology of about 50 of the most significant essays and book chapters published on Shakespeare in the second half of the twentieth century.
      • Introduces students to the variety of theoretical positions, thematic claims, methodologies, and modes of argument in Shakespeare criticism over the last 50 years.
      • Critical views represented range from the old style historicism of E.M.W. Tillyard and the new criticism of William Empson to the new historicism of Stephen Greenblatt and the feminist perspective of Catherine Belsey.
      • Pieces are organised into categories of critical thought and introduced in clear language.
      • Most pieces are reproduced in their entirety.


      Table of Contents

      Preface x

      Acknowledgments xiv

      Part I Authorship 1

      1 Looney and the Oxfordians 4
      S. Schoenbaum

      Part II New Criticism 15

      2 The Naked Babe and the Cloak of Manliness 19
      Cleanth Brooks

      3 ‘‘Honest’’ in Othello 35
      William Empson

      4 ‘‘Introductory’’ Chapter About the Tragedies 50
      Wolfgang Clemen

      5 The ‘‘New Criticism’’ and King Lear 63
      William R. Keast

      Part III Dramatic Kinds 89

      6 The Argument of Comedy 93
      Northrop Frye

      7 Ambivalence: The Dialectic of the Histories 100
      A. P. Rossiter

      8 The Saturnalian Pattern 116
      C. L. Barber

      9 The Jacobean Shakespeare: Some Observations on the Construction of the Tragedies 125
      Maynard Mack

      Part IV The 1950s and 1960s: Theme, Character, Structure 149

      10 Reflections on the Sentimentalist’s Othello 152
      Barbara Everett

      11 Form and Formality in Romeo and Juliet 164
      Harry Levin

      12 King Lear or Endgame 174
      Jan Kott

      13 The Cheapening of the Stage 191
      Anne Righter [Barton]

      14 How Not to Murder Caesar 209
      Sigurd Burckhardt

      Part V Reader-Response Criticism 221

      15 On the Value of Hamlet 225
      Stephen Booth

      16 Rabbits, Ducks, and Henry V 245
      Norman Rabkin

      Part VI Textual Criticism and Bibliography 265

      17 The New Textual Criticism of Shakespeare 269
      Fredson Bowers

      18 Revising Shakespeare 280
      Gary Taylor

      19 Narratives About Printed Shakespeare Texts: ‘‘Foul Papers’’ and ‘‘Bad Quartos’’ 296
      Paul Werstine

      Part VII Psychoanalytic Criticism 319

      20 ‘‘Anger’s my meat’’: Feeding, Dependency, and Aggression in Coriolanus 323
      Janet Adelman

      21 The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear 338
      Stanley Cavell

      22 To Entrap the Wisest: Sacrificial Ambivalence in The Merchant of Venice and Richard III 353
      René Girard

      23 What Did the King Know and When Did He Know It? Shakespearean Discourses and Psychoanalysis 365
      Harry Berger, Jr.

      24 The Turn of the Shrew 399
      Joel Fineman

      Part VIII Historicism and New Historicism 417

      25 The Cosmic Background 422
      E. M. W. Tillyard

      26 Invisible Bullets: Renaissance Authority and its Subversion, Henry IV and Henry V 435
      Stephen Greenblatt

      27 The New Historicism in Renaissance Studies 458
      Jean E. Howard

      28 ‘‘Shaping Fantasies’’: Figurations of Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture 481
      Louis Adrian Montrose

      Part IX Materialist Criticism 511

      29 Shakespeare’s Theater: Tradition and Experiment 515
      Robert Weimann

      30 King Lear (ca. 1605–1606) and Essentialist Humanism 535
      Jonathan Dollimore

      31 Give an Account of Shakespeare and Education, Showing Why You Think They Are Effective and What You Have Appreciated About Them. Support Your Comments with Precise References 547
      Alan Sinfield

      Part X Feminist Criticism 565

      32 Egyptian Queens and Male Reviewers: Sexist Attitudes in Antony and Cleopatra Criticism 570
      L. T. Fitz [Linda Woodbridge]

      33 ‘‘I wooed thee with my sword’’: Shakespeare’s Tragic Paradigms 591
      Madelon Gohlke Sprengnether

      34 The Family in Shakespeare Studies; or Studies in the Family of Shakespeareans; or The Politics of Politics 606
      Lynda E. Boose

      35 Disrupting Sexual Difference: Meaning and Gender in the Comedies 633
      Catherine Belsey

      Part XI Studies in Gender and Sexuality 651

      36 ‘‘This that you call love’’: Sexual and Social Tragedy in Othello 655
      Gayle Greene

      37 The Performance of Desire 669
      Stephen Orgel

      38 The Secret Sharer 684
      Bruce R. Smith

      39 The Homoerotics of Shakespearean Comedy 704
      Valerie Traub

      Part XII Performance Criticism 727

      40 Shakespeare and the Blackfriars Theatre 732
      Gerald Eades Bentley

      41 The Critical Revolution 745
      J. L. Styan

      42 William Shakespeare’s Romeo þ Juliet : Everything’s Nice in America? 750
      Barbara Hodgdon

      43 Deeper Meanings and Theatrical Technique: The Rhetoric of Performance Criticism 762
      William B. Worthen

      Part XIII Postcolonial Shakespeare 777

      44 Nymphs and Reapers Heavily Vanish: The Discursive Con-texts of The Tempest 781
      Francis Barker and Peter Hulme

      45 Sexuality and Racial Difference 794
      Ania Loomba

      46 Discourse and the Individual: The Case of Colonialism in The Tempest 817
      Meredith Anne Skura

      Part XIV Reading Closely 845

      47 Shakespeare’s Prose 848
      Jonas A. Barish

      48 The Play of Phrase and Line 861
      George T. Wright

      49 Transfigurations: Shakespeare and Rhetoric 880
      Patricia Parker

      Index 908

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