This in-depth collection of essays traces the changing reception of Shakespeare over the past four hundred years, during which time Shakespeare has variously been seen as the last great exponent of pre-modern Western culture, a crucial inaugurator of modernity, and a prophet of postmodernity. This fresh look at Shakespeare's plays is an important contribution to the revival of the idea of 'modernity' and how we periodise ourselves, and Shakespeare, at the beginning of a new millennium.

Pericles: Critical Essays brings together the most essential critical essays and theatrical reviews of Shakespeare's play from the late 17th century to the present, providing a representative gathering of critical opinion of Pericles over the centuries. David Skeele's introduction identifies the critical issues and problems the play has raised, cites and evaluates significant critical works, and gives readers a guide to research on the play.

This new study of the major prose and plays of Oscar Wilde argues that his dominant aesthetic category is not art but style. It is this major emphasis on style and attitude which helps mark Wilde so graphically as our contemporary. Beginning with a survey of current Wilde criticism, the book demonstrates the way his own critical essays anticipate much contemporary cultural theory and inform his own practice as a writer.

Focusing on the core assessment objectives for A-Level English Literature, The Quotation Bank takes 25 of the most important quotations from the text and provides detailed material for each quotation, covering interpretations, literary techniques and detailed analysis. Furthermore, The Quotation Bank A-Level Guides analyse 10 essential critical quotations to utilise in your own essays. Also included are detailed contextual materials, revision activities and a comprehensive glossary of relevant literary terminology, all in a clear and practical format to enable effective revision and ultimate exam confidence.

Originally published in 1991. Essays here are arranged chronologically within sections: 'The Play as Text', 'Shylock' and 'The Play in the Theatre.' Collecting previously published important commentaries and scholarly articles, this volume in the Shakespearean Criticism set looks at one of the Bard's most disturbing plays. These historical critical pieces give witness to the changing attitudes to the play and the characters and provide readers with a wide range of material relating both to performances and to textual readings.

Shakespeare continues to articulate the central problems of our intellectual inheritance. The plays of a Renaissance playwright still seem to be fundamental to our understanding and experience of modernity. Key philosophical questions concerning value, meaning and justice continue to resonate in Shakespeare's work.
In the course of rethinking these issues, "Philosophical Shakespeares" focuses on and encourages the growing dissolution of boundaries between literature and philosophy.
"Philosophical Shakespeares" includes contributions from the first rank of contemporary criticism, drawing together original and previously unpublished essays by leading European and US scholars. The approach throughout is interdisciplinary and ranges from problem-centered readings of particular plays to more general elaborations on the significance of Shakespeare in relation to individual thinkers or philosophical traditions.

Shakespeare continues to articulate the central problems of our intellectual inheritance. The plays of a Renaissance playwright still seem to be fundamental to our understanding and experience of modernity.
Key philosophical questions concerning value, meaning and justice continue to resonate in Shakespeare's work. In the course of rethinking these issues, Philosophical Shakespeares actively encourages the growing dissolution of boundaries between literature and philosophy. The approach throughout is interdisciplinary, and ranges from problem-centred readings of particular plays to more general elaborations of the significance of Shakespeare in relation to individual thinkers or philosophical traditions.

A Sourcebook on Naturalist Theatre provides essential primary sources which document one of the key movements in modern theatre. Christopher Innes has selected three writers to exemplify the movement, and six plays in particular:
* Henrik Ibsen - A Dolls House and Hedda Gabler
* Anton Chekhov - The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard
* George Bernard Shaw - Mrs Warren's Profession and Heartbreak House.
Innes' introduction provides an overview of naturalist theatre. Key themes include: the representation of women, significant contemporary issues and the links between theory, play writing and stage practice. The primary sources explore many aspects of naturalism, giving information on:
* the playwrights' intentions when writing plays
* contemporary reviews
* literary criticism
* political and social background
* production notes from early performances of the plays.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203137418

First published in 1990, the aim of this book is to reveal the William Shakespeare whose life has been obscured by centuries of literary mythology. It unravels a series of strands in order to understand the man and the major influences which shaped his life and writing. The first part advances the thesis that his relationship with his father directly influenced the character of Falstaff - helping to not only explain key events in his father's life but also critical events in his own biography. This thesis not only illuminates the Falstaff plays but also a number of other works such as Hamlet. The second part focuses on Shakespeare's own life, and includes much original research particularly on the tradition that he was a poacher of deer, discussing the influence this incident had on his later life and writings. In addition, a sociological approach has been used which illuminates a number of key areas, including questioning the view his background was narrow and provincial - which has often been used to dispute his authorship of plays of such cosmopolitan appeal.

A fascinating anthology that brings together in one volume many of the important articles written about Brecht between 1957 and 1997. The collection explores a wide range of viewpoints about Brecht's theatre theories and practice, as well as including three plays not otherwise easily available in English: "The Beggar or the Dead Dog," "Baden Lehrstuck" and "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Lower Middle Class," This unique compendium covers all the key areas including: the development of Brecht's aesthetic theories, the relationship of Epic theatre to orthodox dramatic theatre, Brecht's collaborations with Kurt Weill, Paul Dessau, and Max Frisch, and Brecht's influence on a variety of cultures and contexts including England, Italy, Moscow, and Japan.
Contributors: Lee Baxandall, Eric Bentley, Henry Bial, Hans-Joachim Bunge, Paul Dessau, Martin Esslin, Henry Glade, Barclay Goldsmith, Mordecai Gorelik, Karen Laughlin, Carol Martin, W. Stuart McDowell, Erica Munk, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernst Schumacher, Diana Taylor, Tadashi Uchino, Carl Weber, and Kurt Weill.

This study provides an authoritative overview of all Marlowe's work. It includes thorough investigations of his major plays, Tamburlaine, Edward II, The Jew of Malta and Doctor Faustus as well as a full discussion of The Massacre at Paris, Dido Queen of Carthage and all his extant poetry. Analysis of Faustus takes full account of both A and B text versions. Thoroughly researched and yet presented in an accessible, engaging style, A Preface to Marlowe reads Marlowe's life and times, as well as his work, in the light of current critical theory. Consequently, it is a vital guide for all students of early modern drama. As well as providing sharp analysis of stage history, Dr Simkin reflects on the wider significance of a stage-oriented approach. The result is a reading of Marlowe that re-opens debates about his status as a radical figure and as a subversive playwright and invites the reader to experience the plays as immediate, exciting, 'live' documents.

Plautus was Ancient Rome's greatest comic playwright, Shakespeare drew heavily on his plots, and his legacy is prevalent throughout modern drama. In this expanded edition of his successful book, one of America's foremost Classical scholars introduces performance criticism to the study of Plautus' ancient drama. In addition to the original detailed studies of six of the dramatists's plays, the methodology of performance criticism, the use of conventions, and the nature of comic heroism in Plautus, this edition includes new studies on:
* the induction into the world of the play
* the scripted imitation of improvisation
* Plautus's comments on his previous work
* the nature of 'tragicomedy'.

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Shakespeare Without Women is a controversial study of female impersonation and the connections between dramatic and political representation in Shakespeare's plays.

The vitality of our culture is still often measured by the status Shakespeare has within it. Contemporary readers and writers continue to exploit Shakespeare's cultural afterlife in a vivid and creative way. This collection of essays shows how writers' efforts to intimate, contradict, compete with and reproduce Shakespeare keep him in the cultural conversation. The contributors analyze the methods and motives of Shakespearean appropriation by looking at a wide range of works and people including: Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet"; "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley; "Mama Day" by Gloria Naylor; Robert Browning; the Disney films "The Little Mermaid" and "The Lion King"; and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

Stephen Sondheim is arguably the most important writer for the American musical stage today, the equivalent in his field of Miller, Albee, O'Neill, and Williams. Yet he has rarely been treated seriously within the academy.Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays is an attempt to remedy that situation. Bringing together scholars and critics from a wide variety of literary and theoretical perspectives, this book undertakes to examine all of Sondheim's major productions and themes.

This text presents the best of John Heilpern's theatre writings. The players are many: Vanessa Redgrave and Ralph Fiennes; Helen Mirren and George C. Wolfe; Fiona Shaw and Savion Glover; Karen Finley and David Mamet; and many others. There is also an important essay on the differences between the British and American theatre scenes, including profiles of such legends as Noel Coward, Alec Guinness, Michael Bennett, Peter Brook and Robert Brustein. It also reviews essays on dozens of great, good and awful plays, as well as contrary opinions on some of the most widely admired playwrights. There are comic turns too: "The Year of the Penis" and "The Art of Falling Asleep at the Theatre."

Bringing together seminal writings on Beckett from the 1950s and 1960s with critical readings from the 1980s and 1990s, this collection is inspired by a wide variety of literary-theoretical approaches and covers the whole range of Beckett's creative work. Following an up-to-date review and analysis of Beckett criticism, fifteen extracts of Beckett criticism are introduced and set in context by editors' headnotes. The book aims to make easily accessible to students and scholars stimulating and innovative writing on the work of Samuel Beckett, representing the wide range of new perspectives opened up by contemporary critical theory: philosophical, political and psychoanalytic criticism, feminist and gender studies, semiotics, and reception theory.

Interest in Ben Jonson is higher today than at any time since his death. This new collection offers detailed readings of all the major plays - Volpone, Epicene, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair - and the poems. It also provides significant insights into the court masques and the later plays which have only recently been rediscovered as genuinely engaging stage pieces.

The most familiar assertion of Shakespeare scholarship is that he is our contemporary. Shakespeare After Theory provocatively argues that he is not, but what value he has for us must at least begin with a recognition of his distance from us. David Scott Kastan compellingly restores Shakespeare's plays to the rich densities of the world in which and to which they were created.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203901657

The most familiar assertion of Shakespeare scholarship is that he is our contemporary. Shakespeare After Theory provocatively argues that he is not, but what value he has for us must at least begin with a recognition of his distance from us. David Scott Kastan compellingly restores Shakespeare's plays to the rich densities of the world in which and to which they were created.

This collection of essays examines the ways in which writing and cinema can be studied in relation to each other. A wide range of material is presented, from essays which look at particular films, including The Piano and The English Patient, to discussions of the latest developments in film studies including psychoanalytic film theory and the cultural study of film audiences. Specific topics that the essays address also include: the kinds of writing produced for the cinema industry, advertising, film adaptations of written texts and theatre plays from nineteenth century 'classic' novels to recent cyberpunk science fiction such as Blade Runner and Starship Troopers. The essays deal with existing areas of debate, like questions of authorship and audience, and also break new ground, for example in proposing approaches to the study of writing on the cinema screen. The book includes a select bibliography, and a documents section gives details of a range of films for further study.

Series Information:
Critical Studies in Black Life and Culture

"Backgrounds" includes essays on Wilde and the 1890s by prominent cultural critics Joseph Donohue, Regenia Gagnier, and Karl Beckson. "Reviews and Reactions" collects contemporary responses to The Importance of Being Earnest, among them George Bernard Shaw s famous dissenting view and the American assessment by H. F. "Essays in Criticism" includes six diverse assessments of Wilde and the play by E. H. Mikhail, Camille Paglia, Christopher Craft, Michael Patrick Gillespie, Peter Raby, and Richard Haslam. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included."