Transforming Shakespeare: Contemporary Women's Re-Visions in Literature and Performance [Hardcover]

Marianne Novy (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999 | ISBN-10: 0312214723 | ISBN-13: 978-0312214722 | Edition: 1st

A surprisingly large number of women writers, directors, and performers have created works that respond to Shakespeare, or to most earlier and more traditional interpretations of his plays, in the late twentieth century. In this collection, feminist critics explore rewritings, as well as recent Shakespeare performances directed by women. The essays examine how these works use rewritings of Shakespeare to address issues of gender, race, sexuality, colonialism, environmentalism, class, and nationalism, as well as the general question of our relation to cultural tradition at the start of the new millennium. Transforming Shakespeare offers a striking new look at Shakespeare and his place in a modern, diverse world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Through film, stage, the novel, and poetry, women are revisiting and reinterpreting Shakespeare from a distinctively feminist viewpoint. These well-written and accessible essays show how contemporary women subvert or expand upon his original texts, covering subjects as diverse as ecofeminism, colonialism, incest, and production styles. Novy (English, Univ. of Pittsburgh) makes a wonderful and unusual editorial decision in the extended and multifaceted interest given to the reinterpretation of King Lear in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres (including two critical essays and a personal account from Smiley). Linda Bamber's chapter, "Claribel at Palace Dot Tunis," also works well within this collection as an example of a way in which a woman approaches the Shakespeare text as a writer of fiction and literary criticism, blending the concerns of this collection in theory and in practice. Recommended for academic libraries.AKaren E. Sadowski, Simmons Coll., Boston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Full of fresh insights and ranging widely across the field of contemporary culture, Transforming Shakespeare is an exciting book. It strikingly demonstrates the many provocative ways in which Shakespeare can be ‘our contemporary.'” —Jean E. Howard, Columbia University

“Novy gathers a varied and all-star cast to explore women's 're-visions' of Shakespeare...well-documented and well-written essays offers new visions of Shakespeare for the diverse, postmodern world...” —Choice

“These well-written and accessible essays show how contemporary women subvert or expand upon [Shakespeare's] original texts, covering subjects as diverse as ecofeminism, colonialism, incest and production styles.” —Library Journal

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312214723
• ISBN-13: 978-0312214722
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,950,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)