Shakespeare, the Bible, and the Form of the Book: Contested Scriptures (Routledge Studies in Shakespeare): 05 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138793752 ISBN 13: 9781138793750

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

Synopsis

Why do Shakespeare and the English Bible seem to have an inherent relationship with each other? How have these two monumental traditions in the history of the book functioned as mutually reinforcing sources of cultural authority? How do material books and related reading practices serve as specific sites of intersection between these two textual traditions? This collection makes a significant intervention in our understanding of Shakespeare, the Bible, and the role of textual materiality in the construction of cultural authority. Departing from conventional source study, it questions the often naturalized links between the Shakespearean and biblical corpora, examining instead the historically contingent ways these links have been forged. The volume brings together leading scholars in Shakespeare, book history, and the Bible as literature, whose essays converge on the question of Scripture as source versus Scripture as process―whether that scripture is biblical or Shakespearean―and in turn explore themes such as cultural authority, pedagogy, secularism, textual scholarship, and the materiality of texts. Covering an historical span from Shakespeare’s post-Reformation era to present-day Northern Ireland, the volume uncovers how Shakespeare and the Bible’s intertwined histories illuminate the enduring tensions between materiality and transcendence in the history of the book.

About this title

About the Author

Travis DeCook is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Carleton University.

Alan Galey is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, where he also teaches in the Book History and Print Culture program.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1138793752
• ISBN 13: 9781138793750
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: DeCook Travis, Galey Alan