RC Literature and Literary Theory Bundle: The Wheel of Fire (Routledge Classics) [Paperback]

G. Wilson Knight (Author), T.S. Eliot (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2001

Originally published in 1930, this classic of modern Shakespeare criticism proves both enlightening and innovative. Standing head and shoulders above all other Shakespearean interpretations, this is the masterwork of the brilliant English scholar, G. Wilson Knight. Founding a new and influential school of Shakespearean criticism, Wheel of Fire was Knight's first venture in the field - his writing sparkles with insight and wit, and his analyses are key to contemporary understandings of Shakespeare.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'I confess that reading his essays seems to me to have enlarged my understanding of the Shakespearean pattern, which, after all, is quite the main main thing.' - T.S. Eliot

About the Author

G. Wilson Knight (1897-1985). Literary critic, playwright, poet and actor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (May 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415253950
• ISBN-13: 978-0415253956
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars G. Wilson Knight is BRILLIANT, June 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: RC Literature and Literary Theory Bundle: The Wheel of Fire (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

Knight's theories have become commonplaces. The idea that Hamlet is a bad guy? The theories the Duke of Measure for Measure and Timon of Athens are Christ figures? All those are propounded for (as far as I know) the first time in this eloquent book. Aside from having famous theories, Knight supports his claims, which at first can seem absurd, with mountains of evidence gathered from a fine-toothed reading of the text. He never makes obvious points or fallacious arguments; he starts out by noticing fine details in the text and then draws these into a coherent, convincing whole. I don't agree with every word he's ever written, but all his words are brilliant. Knight is the best literary critic I have ever read, by a wide margin, and this may be his best book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is more in Shakespeare's world than is dreamnt of in previous critics anthologies, September 5, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: RC Literature and Literary Theory Bundle: The Wheel of Fire (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

G. Wilson Knight is one of the great pioneering Shakespeare critics. As he explains in his introduction in the essays in this work he does not speak about Shakespearean 'theatre' about all that has to do with playing the plays. Instead he reads the text, not simply in time, but what he calls 'spatially'. This means in a sense thematically, finding a unity of mood and atmosphere, of motif and meaning.
For instance in his provocative reading of 'Hamlet' he sees Hamlet as a kind of sick soul set over against the healthy world of others, including that of usurper Claudius. At Knight sees it Hamlet is the death- obsessed dark dreamer who cannot be saved for life, not even by the love of Ophelia. Knight searches through the play as a whole in order to make Hamlet a character set apart from all the others, the one whose indecision, despair, brooding are signs of his deep disturbance of soul.
In another essay in the work Knight compares this moody , despairing Hamlet with the Tolstoy who at the moment of greatest triumph and well- being fell into a depression over his sense of life's meaninglessness. Knight claims that Tolstoy did not ever really get beyond this sense of meaninglessness, while Shakespeare in Lear and other late works does.
There are also outstanding essays here on Lear, Othello, Measure to Measure.
Shakespeare like all great writers is reinterpreted and added on generation by generation. In his generation Knight made a major contribution to this. His work is still not simply readable but instructive and inspiring.