Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History [Hardcover]

Alden T. Vaughan (Author), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521403057 | ISBN-13: 978-0521403054 | Publication Date: October 25, 1991

Shakespeare's Caliban examines The Tempest's "savage and deformed slave" as a fascinating but ambiguous literary creation with a remarkably diverse history. The authors, one a historian and the other a Shakespearean, explore the cultural background of Caliban's creation in 1611 and his disparate metamorphoses to the present time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a quite exceptionally sound and illuminating piece of scholarship. It takes a single revealing and well-documented piece of litmus paper, the figure of Caliban in The Tempest , and tracks it through history and geography, literary criticism, theater, book illustration and painting to give a comprehensive and detailed account of the huge changes in the ways it has been seen and interpreted. In doing so, it provides not only a piece of cultural history but a test for some of the most basic shifts in ways of thinking about mankind through the last three centuries. Its history covers not just English and American thought but Spanish American, Caribbean, and African. It is an interdisciplinary study of the best and most rewarding kind. It is a beautifully worked out and immaculate thesis, and an admirably readable book." Andrew Gurr, University of Reading.

"Shakespeare's Caliban is a major contribution to Shakespearean criticism, and more widely, to cultural history. This kind of wide-ranging and interdisciplinary study ought to become a feature of writing in the humanities in the next decade." Peter Hulme, University of Essex

"This [is an] interesting and remarkably thorough study." Choice

"The Vaughans' analyses are exemplary, but what really distinguishes this book is the amount of sheer pleasure that is to be gotten from reading its elegant prose and scrupulous insights." English Language Notes

"Shakespeare's Caliban deserves a rousing welcome." Essays in Theatre

"Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan take us through the historic phases of the Rorschach that is Caliban....[A] marvellously eclectic record of stage history...." Ralph Berry, Dalhousie Review

Book Description

A fascinating but ambiguous literary figure, possessing a remarkably diverse history in criticism, the arts and socio-political writings, emerges within this exploration of The Tempest's "savage and deformed slave" from his creation in 1611 to the present.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 290 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (October 25, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521403057
• ISBN-13: 978-0521403054
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,584,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent historical survey from various disciplines., July 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare's Caliban: A Cultural History (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent, and largely unbiased, discussion of CALIBAN (the character from Shakespeare's The Tempest) and traces the evolution of his perception as reflected in literary criticism, culture/politics, theatrical performance (stage and film), poetry, and visual art. An actor myself, when doing research on Shakespeare roles, the most efficient technique I've found is investigation of stage history. Most of the relevant literary criticism has at one time or another been reflected in stage history. Also, stage history is something I find more easily applicable to performance than literary criticism--for obvious reasons. In light of this bias, the only disappointment I had in the book is that I would have liked a longer chapter on stage history. Nonetheless, as the book surveys CALIBAN's history from so many perspectives, one comes away with a strong appreciation of the wide range of exploration available in playing CALIBAN. The numerous black & white figures are an added plus. Finally, any actor playing CALIBAN and hard-pressed to find research time would do well to at least read the chapter on scriptural analysis relevant to CALIBAN and the final chapter, which summarizes the entire book. Directors and designers would benefit from perusal of this text; however, the book does stick fairly close to its subject of CALIBAN, specifically, rather than The Tempest, in general. To close, Shakespearean actors would certainly benefit from more character-specific surveys like this book.