Shakespeare and the Nature of Love - Literature, Culture, Evolution (Hardcover)

The best conception of love, Marcus Nordlund contends, and hence the best framework for its literary analysis, must be a fusion of evolutionary, cultural, and historical explanation. It is within just such a biocultural nexus that Nordlund explores Shakespeare's treatment of different forms of love. His approach leads to a valuable new perspective on Shakespearean love and, more broadly, on the interaction between our common humanity and our historical contingency as they are reflected, recast, transformed, or even suppressed in literary works. After addressing critical issues about love, biology, and culture raised by his method, Nordlund considers four specific forms of love in seven of Shakespeare's plays. Examining the vicissitudes of parental love in ""Titus Andronicus"" and ""Coriolanus"", he argues that Shakespeare makes a sustained inquiry into the impact of culture and society upon the natural human affections. King Lear offers insight into the conflicted relationship between love and duty. In two problem plays about romantic love, ""Troilus and Cressida"" and ""All's Well that Ends Well"", the tension between individual idiosyncrasies and social consensus becomes especially salient. And finally, in ""Othello"" and ""The Winter's Tale"", Nordlund asks what Shakespeare can tell us about the dark avatar of jealousy.

General

Imprint:	Northwestern University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Rethinking Theory
Release date:	August 2007
First published:	August 2007
Authors:	Marcus Nordlund
Series editors:	Gary Saul Morson
Dimensions:	234 x 160 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	304
ISBN-13:	978-0-8101-2421-9
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Plays & playwrights > 16th to 18th centuries > Shakespeare studies & criticism
LSN:	0-8101-2421-1
Barcode:	9780810124219

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