Madness and Drama in the Age of Shakespeare [Paperback]

Duncan Salkeld (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0719045886 | ISBN-13: 978-0719045882 | Publication Date: June 1994

In Renaissance drama, madness links personal crisis to political crisis. Duncan Salkeld covers a range of psychiatric, political and dramatic literature from the renaissance to the present day to examine the interplay between madness and drama in the plays of Shakespeare and other key dramatists, such as Jonson, Kyd, Dekker, Webster, Beaumont and Fletcher. The cultural history of madness is a fascinating topic and Salkeld uses theorists such as Foucault, Derrida, Shoshana Felman and Luce Irigaray to explore the powerful dynamics of reason and madness, control and subversion. In reading madness as an index of contemporary power relations in Renaissance plays, Salkeld sheds light on the historical and ideological conditions which underlie our own rationality.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Manchester Univ Pr (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719045886
• ISBN-13: 978-0719045882
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,960,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book for politics, madness, Shakespeare, and Renaissance Theater!, October 24, 2010

By 

Christina - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madness and Drama in the Age of Shakespeare (Paperback)

I need to thank Dr. Salkeld for his incredible book, "Madness and drama in the age of Shakespeare." After searching my university's library for weeks looking for scholarship on madness and politics in relation to early modern drama, nothing has compared to this book, which has given me incredible information on the links between madness and the state, the king's "body politic," and how this was used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The links Dr. Salkeld makes are enlightening, and gave me a knew appreciation for an even greater level of depth (especially in the links between madness, politics, and gender) in Shakespeare's plays.

Dr. Salkeld's book is clear, concise, extremely approachable, and filled with incredible information that is like nothing else out there. It is equally brilliant to undergraduate students like myself and those with PhDs. His ideas are still innovative today, and I recommend this book to anyone interested in Shakespeare, madness, politics, and/or Renaissance theater. A highly enjoyable and exciting read.

5.0 out of 5 stars A clear and concise account, a must-read for those in the field, February 11, 2009

By 

Nora Caron (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madness and Drama in the Age of Shakespeare (Hardcover)

I was extremely relieved when I read Salkeld's research. His writing is clear, concise, and very organized compared to other writers in his field. Without a doubt, "Madness in the Age of Shakespeare" has clarified many areas that were previously confusing to me regarding the Renaissance understanding of madness, and how Shakespeare re-creates his own mad characters on stage. Salkeld claims that what literary critics need to do now is to see into the untruths madness confronts us with. A very original and persuasive argument.