Medieval Shakespeare: Pasts and Presents - Softcover

Morse, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107559529 ISBN 13: 9781107559523

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2015

Synopsis

For many, Shakespeare represents the advent of modernity. It is easy to forget that he was in fact a writer deeply embedded in the Middle Ages, who inherited many of his shaping ideas and assumptions from the medieval past. This collection brings together essays by internationally renowned scholars of medieval and early modern literature, the history of the book and theatre history to present new perspectives on Shakespeare and his medieval heritage. Separated into four parts, the collection explores Shakespeare and his work in the context of the Middle Ages, medieval books and language, the British past, and medieval conceptions of drama and theatricality, together showing Shakespeare's work as rooted in late medieval history and culture. Insisting upon Shakespeare's complexity and medieval multiplicity, Medieval Shakespeare gives readers the opportunity to appreciate both Shakespeare and his period within the traditions that fostered and surrounded him.

About this title

Review:

'A fascinating dialogue between two literary periods.' The Times Literary Supplement

'The contributors to the volume do not understand the term 'medieval Shakespeare' in either narrow or prescriptive ways. Rather it is taken as a point of departure in thinking about Shakespeare's language, his representation of history, his theatre practice, and his subsequent reception. The essays offer the reader a sense of the range, scope, and dynamism of current research, highlighting the ways in which 'medieval Shakespeare' can encompass and contain approaches as diverse as book history, performance history, the history of ideas, historiography, and historical linguistics.' David Salter, Cahiers Élisabéthains

Book Description:

Before Shakespeare is our contemporary he is the contemporary of late-medieval European culture, self-consciously regenerating and transforming earlier ideas of history, art, poetry and the stage. This book gives readers the opportunity to appreciate both Shakespeare and his period from the perspectives of the traditions that fostered and surrounded him.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1107559529
• ISBN 13: 9781107559523
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278