This book focuses on the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of "greatest" among his works. Recent critical theorizing has destabilized the texts and undermined the notion of "greatness" or any consideration of the plays as works of art. Foakes takes issue with such theories and reconsiders textual revisions, in order to argue for the integrity of the plays as reading texts, and to recover a flexible sense of their artistry in relation to meaning.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Attention to any book by this distinguished author and professor of English...is always warranted, but especially this one, which has as its subjects, Hamlet and Lear, their variant texts, postmodern criticism, and the Bard's reputation itself." American Library Association
"...a timely and important book. The surveys of critical history are judicious and persuasive; the critique of current practices is not just curmudgeonly but identifies real problems; and the readings of the plays themselves show how what is best in current critical practive--particularly its awareness that a play takes on a life specific to the culture that reads it--can be used in the service of these texts." Shakespeare Studies
"...enormously valuable as wide-ranging and knowledgeable discussions of a huge quantity of material handled with grace and skill. This is indispensable reading to anyone concerned with the afterlife of either play." Shakespeare Bulletin
"...a timely and important book. The surveys of critical history are judicious and persuasive; the critique of current practices is not just curmudgeonly but identifies real problems; and the readings of the plays themselves show how what is best in current critical practive--particularly its awareness that a play takes on a life specific to the culture that reads it--can be used in the service of these texts." Shakespeare Studies
"...enormously valuable as wide-ranging and knowledgeable discussions of a huge quantity of material handled with grace and skill. This is indispensable reading to anyone concerned with the afterlife of either play." Shakespeare Bulletin
Book Description
This book focuses on the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of 'greatest' among his works. Recent critical theorising has destabilised the texts and undermined the notion of 'greatness' or any consideration of the plays as works of art. Foakes takes issue with such theories and reconsiders textual revisions, in order to argue for the integrity of the plays as reading texts, and to recover a flexible sense of their artistry in relation to meaing.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The Romantic idealization of Shakespeare as a universal genius established him as a figure of enormous cultural authority, yet at the same time democratized him as a representative consciousness, available for each of us to interpret in his or her own way, untrammelled by scholarship, and regardless of social rank. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
last major soliloquy, inward illusion, bitter fool, scenic illusion, heroic code, superfluous man, dramatic illusion Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
King Lear, United States, Second World War, Peter Brook, Cold War, Stephen Greenblatt, Peter Hall, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Wilson Knight, Berlin Wall, Dover Wilson, Great Expectations, Harold Jenkins, Julius Caesar, Maynard Mack, Nahum Tate, Edwin Booth, Emrys Jones, First Folio, Kenneth Muir, South Africa, The Division of the Kingdoms, The Tempest, Thomas Mann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The Romantic idealization of Shakespeare as a universal genius established him as a figure of enormous cultural authority, yet at the same time democratized him as a representative consciousness, available for each of us to interpret in his or her own way, untrammelled by scholarship, and regardless of social rank. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
last major soliloquy, inward illusion, bitter fool, scenic illusion, heroic code, superfluous man, dramatic illusion Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
King Lear, United States, Second World War, Peter Brook, Cold War, Stephen Greenblatt, Peter Hall, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Wilson Knight, Berlin Wall, Dover Wilson, Great Expectations, Harold Jenkins, Julius Caesar, Maynard Mack, Nahum Tate, Edwin Booth, Emrys Jones, First Folio, Kenneth Muir, South Africa, The Division of the Kingdoms, The Tempest, Thomas Mann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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25
books
cite this book:
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- King Lear (The New Folger Library Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare on 76 pages
- Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (Clarendon Paperbacks) by Stephen J. Greenblatt on 4 pages
- King Lear by William; Harbage, Alfred Shakespeare on 4 pages
- King Lear (Tales from Shakespeare) by Charles Lamb on 4 pages
- Twelfth Night (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare on page 127, and Back Matter
See all 100 books this book cites
- Hamlet (Shakespearean Criticism) by Arthur F. Kinney on 6 pages
- Shakespeare and Violence by R. A. Foakes on 4 pages
- Shakespeare Survey: Volume 55, King Lear and its Afterlife: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production by Peter Holland on page 10, page 69, and page 140
- Henslowe's Diary by Philip Henslowe in Front Matter, and Back Cover
- Pericles, Prince of Tyre (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare in Front Matter
See all 25 books citing this book
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