Shakespeare: The Histories by G Holderness
Shakespeare: The Histories brings a completely new approach to Shakespeare's historical dramas. Many previously well-known and influential studies have been governed by Marxist methodologies. This book reviews the plays in the light of modern theory, considering History as re-readings of the past. Both the early modern consciousness of history, obsessed by ghosts and resurrections, and modern preoccupations with language as absence and deferral, provide alternative interpretative contexts for reading Shakespeare's history plays. Holderness concentrates on detailed readings of the plays in the light of these concerns, writing in an accessible way and with an intensified focus on history as writing.
'Very useful overview and welcome inclusion of Hamlet as point of comparison' - A. Hiscock, University of Wales Bangor 'Holderness deliberately disarranges our thinking by introducing the history plays with an essay on Hamlet, provokes us with his apparently disorderly procession through the histories in a pattern neither historical nor compositional. He places Shakespeare's histories within the context of plebian irony rather than aristocratic ideology, and claims for the Elizabethan theatre the power to make, rather than merely receive, a national history that is democratic, demotic, unauthorised and potentially disobedient.' - Claire Preston, Times Higher Education Supplement
GRAHAM HOLDERNESS is Professor of English, Dean of Humanities, Languages and Education and Director of Research Policy at the University of Hertfordshire. A leading and sometimes controversial Shakespearean scholar, he is especially well known for his work on the History plays.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780333624975 |
| ISBN 10 | 0333624971 |
| Title | Shakespeare: The Histories |
| Author | G Holderness |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 1999-12-02 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |