Overview
- Examines how and why Shakespeare became a figure of English cultural authority
- Looks at Shakespeare's sources or 'authorities' and how they impact his work
- Considers how Shakespeare's characters are constructed as a form of authority and order
Part of the book series: Palgrave Shakespeare Studies (PASHST)
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About this book
This book examines conceptions of authority for and in Shakespeare, and the construction of Shakespeare as literary and cultural authority. The first section, Defining and Redefining Authority, begins by re-defining the concept of Shakespeare’s sources, suggesting that ‘authorities’ and ‘resources’ are more appropriate terms. Building on this conceptual framework, the remainder of this section explores linguistic and discursive authority more broadly. The second section, Shakespearean Authority, considers the construction, performance and questioning of authority in Shakespeare’s plays. Essays here range from examinations of monarchical authority to discussions of household authority, literary authority and linguistic ownership. The final part, Shakespeare as Authority, then traces the increasing establishment of Shakespeare as an authority from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century in a series of essays that explore Shakespearean authority for editors, actors, critics, authors, readers and audiences. The volume concludes with two essays that reassess Shakespeare as an authority for visual culture – in the cinema and in contemporary art.
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Keywords
Table of contents (16 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Defining and Redefining Authority
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Front Matter
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Shakespearean Authority
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Front Matter
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Shakespeare as Authority
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Front Matter
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Reviews
“Halsey and Vine remind readers of as much quite early on in Shakespeare and Authority … this book’s altogether comprehensive range, especially in relation to its varying angles of approach and expectation(s).” (David Marx, David Marx Book Reviews, davidmarxbookreviews.wordpress.com, April 23, 2019)
“Shakespeare and Authority presents thought-provoking individual chapters and, as such, is a valuable contribution to the flourishing field of Shakespeare studies. More specifically aimed at Shakespeare scholars and specialists of the early modern period, it will undoubtedly enlarge theirvision of Shakespeare as poet and playwright now turned into one of the greatest artistic influences of our century.” (Sophie Chiari, cercles.com, June, 2018) “Shakespeare and Authority is a wide-ranging and impressively researched volume which returns attention to a burning issue in early modern and modern critical debate. Interrogating received ideas on authorship, textual expectation and reception, this collection urges readers to return to a host of celebrated works with new eyes and repays re-reading.” (Andrew Hiscock, Professor of English Literature, Bangor University, UK)
“Shakespeare and Authority is an exceptionally fine collection, which includes contributions both from well-established figures in the field and from up-and-coming scholars who are producing exciting new work. Its range is comprehensive and it offers a thoughtful, scholarly, and original engagement with a crucial topic in early modern literary and cultural studies. It is a must-read volume for students and scholars alike.” (Andrew Murphy, Professor of English, University of St Andrews, UK)
“This fascinating multifaceted collection ventures to approach the subject of authority as both a preoccupation within Shakespeare’s canon as well as the key determinant of the long trajectory of his textual, dramatic, and critical reception. Together the essays give us a generous chronological and generic sweep, yet each individual essay has its own tight focus on some aspect of the complex and mutating interrelation of authority and authorship.” (Margreta de Grazia, Emerita Sheli Z. and Burton Z. Rosenberg Professor of the Humanities, University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Katie Halsey is Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Stirling, UK. Previous publications include Jane Austen and her Readers, 1786-1945, The History of Reading (with Shafquat Towheed and Rosalind Crone) and The History of Reading vol. 2: Evidence from the British Isles, 1750-1950 (with Bob Owens).
Angus Vine is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Stirling, UK. He is the author of In Defiance of Time: Antiquarian Writing in Early Modern England; Miscellaneous Order: Manuscript Culture and the Organization of Knowledge in Early Modern England (forthcoming) and, with Abigail Shinn, The Copious Text.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Shakespeare and Authority
Book Subtitle: Citations, Conceptions and Constructions
Editors: Katie Halsey, Angus Vine
Series Title: Palgrave Shakespeare Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57853-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-57852-5Published: 31 January 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-57853-2Published: 19 January 2018
Series ISSN: 2731-3204
Series E-ISSN: 2731-3212
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 347
Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations
Topics: Early Modern/Renaissance Literature, British and Irish Literature