French Reflections in the Shakespearean Tragic: Three Case Studies - Hardcover

Hillman, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719087171 ISBN 13: 9780719087172

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Hillman explores English tragedy in relation to France with a frank concentration on Shakespeare. He sets out to theorise more abstract tragic qualities (such as nostalgia, futility and heroism) with reference to specific French texts and contexts.

Three manifestations of the 'Shakespearean tragic' are singled out: Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra and All’s Well That Ends Well, a comedy with melancholic overtones whose French setting is shown to be richly significant. Hillman brings to bear on each of these central works a cluster of French intertextual echoes, sometimes literary in origin (whether dramatic or otherwise), sometimes involving historical texts, memoirs or contemporary political documents which have no obvious connection with the plays but prove capable of enriching interpretation of them

It will be of interest not only to scholars specialising in early modern English theatre, but also to both specialists and students concerned with the circulation of information and the production of meaning within early modern European culture.

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About this title

About the Author

Richard Hillman is Professor of English at the Université François-Rabelais de Tours

From the Back Cover

Richard Hillman pursues his exploration of English tragedy in relation to France with a frank concentration on Shakespeare. Instead of focusing on common paradigms, he sets out to theorise more abstract tragic qualities (such as nostalgia, futility and heroism), but again with reference to specific French texts and contexts.

Three manifestations of the 'Shakespearean tragic' are singled out: Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra and All's Well That Ends Well, a comedy with melancholic overtones whose French setting is shown to be richly significant. Hillman brings to bear on each of these central works a cluster of French intertextual echoes, sometimes literary in origin (whether dramatic or otherwise), sometimes involving historical texts, memoirs or contemporary political documents which have no obvious connection with the plays but prove capable of enriching interpretation of them. Some of this material is quite obscure, at least to literary scholars, and one effect is to suggest the surprising degree to which segments of the English theatre-going public would have responded to the evocation of facts, images and ideas emanating from France in a variety of forms.

All in all, this book constitutes a notable advance in Shakespeare criticism, both methodologically and in substance. Its interdisciplinary approach will make it of interest not only to scholars specialising in early modern English theatre, but also to both specialists and students concerned with the circulation of information and the production of meaning within early modern European culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0719087171
• ISBN 13: 9780719087172
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256