Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics) (No. 84) [Paperback]

Stephen Greenblatt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520061608 | ISBN-13: 978-0520061606 | Publication Date: April 14, 1989

Stephen Greenblatt has been at the center of a major shift in literary interpretation toward a critical method that situates cultural creation in history. Shakespearean Negotiations is a sustained and powerful exemplification of this innovative method, offering a new way of understanding the power of Shakespeare's achievement and, beyond this, an original analysis of cultural process.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Greenblatt compels one to think afresh about the strange position of a theater existing on the margin of an authoritarian society, and indeed about the whole question of the social and political contexts of works of art." -- Frank Kermode, The New Republic

"The most intensely rewarding lit-crit book I've ever read." -- Scott L. Malcomson, Voice Literary Supplement

"[Shakespearean Negotiations], so sharp on cultural stereotypes and on the abuse of power, should be read by all students of history and literature, by all thinking men and women." -- E.A.J. Honigmann, New York Review of Books

About the Author

Stephen Greenblatt is The Class of 1932 Professor of English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (April 14, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520061608
• ISBN-13: 978-0520061606
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #802,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Greenblatt (Ph.D. Yale) is Cogan University Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University. Also General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Eighth Edition, he is the author of nine books, including Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare; Hamlet in Purgatory; Practicing New Historicism; Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World, and Learning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture. He has edited six collections of criticism, is the co-author (with Charles Mee) of a play, Cardenio, and is a founding coeditor of the journal Representations. He honors include the MLA's James Russell Lowell Prize, for Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England, the Distinguished Humanist Award from the Mellon Foundation, the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare in the Marketplace, November 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics) (No. 84) (Paperback)

Published over a decade ago, this book has become not only a classic in Shakespearean study but also the exemplary of the "new historicism." Even nowadays it does not lose its refleshing power, and never fails to stimulate controversies (e.g. the issue of subversion and containment) that still continues well into the new millenium. Greenblatt has been criticized for homogenizing the history and sacrificing the complexity of the text (for an alternative model of new historicism, one can refer to Louis Montrose's articles and his book "The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of Elizabethan Theatre"), but still he has successfully made a strong case for his major argument, namely that Shakespeare, far from a single-handed isolated individual genius coming from nowhere, heavily drew upon the cultural resources and "social energy" circulating among various domains beyond the boundaries of theatre and literature. Greenblatt is very deft in reconstructing the historical and ideological context that enriches the Shakespearen play. Time and again readers feel that the historical anecdote Greenblatt talks about even eclipses the play itself with its magic power of invoking wonder, which might make even those sympathetic readers like Frank Kermode complain that the part on Shakespeare in this book is less interesting than the part on history. But isn't this refocusing of interest not exactly part of demystifying the notion of genius and his sacred writing in order to appreciate Shakespeare more as a negotiator in the marketplace who purchases and exchanges symbolically? The last chapter on "Tempest" is especially highly recommended for its skillful intermingling of the issues of ruling strategy by means of inciting anxiety, colonial (counter)history, the space of theatre and finally the institutionalisation of literature.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsurpassed Shakespeare criticism, February 24, 2001

By 

Richard Burt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics) (No. 84) (Paperback)

Although Greenblatt as received a good deal attention for his interest in critical practice and for his coining of the terms "New Historicisim" and "cultural poetics," his real strengths ahev also ben doing close readings of literary and historical texts. In Shakespearean Negotiations, Greenblatt offers typically brilliant and engaging readings of some of Shakespeare's major plays. His book is of interest to a wide audience beyond an academic one. The man is an exceptionally gifted writer and storyteller. It's a pity that so few other literary and cultural critics even come close to matching him. Perhaps only Stephen Orgel and Stanley Fish have equally brilliant prose styles and analytical powers.

9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare as a social energy, February 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social Energy in Renaissance England (New Historicism: Studies in Cultural Poetics) (No. 84) (Paperback)

Writing today a book that still has something to say about Shakespeare is hard on our days. This is the reason why one can consider this book outstanding. Nonetheless, I have read many recent books about Shakespeare and I consider that behind the interesting concept of social energy lies an excessively skeptic version of Shakespeare. I can agree that Shakespeare's preeminence in the canon is largely due to the circulation of social energy, but I think that many of the richness of Shakespeare is too reduced to this factor. The book is an excellent reading for anybody interested in Shakespeare but requires some balancing. My recommendations would be the heterodox book by Rene Girard and the passionate and excessive approach of Bloom. This triad gives an excellent approach to contemporary theses on Shakespeare with complete counterarguments that neutralize the radical points of view of the three authors.