City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

This is Shakespeare, Emma Smith

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

This is Shakespeare

bibliography

Emma Smith

Pelican books, 30

Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of. But it doesn't really tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant, deflecting us from investigating the challenges of his inconsistencies and flaws. This electrifying new book thrives on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of Shakespeare's plays and their changing topicality. It introduces an intellectually, theatrically and ethically exciting writer who engages with intersectionality as much as with Ovid, with economics as much as poetry: who writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity and sex. It takes us into a world of politicking and copy-catting, as we watch him emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day; flirting with and skirting round the cut-throat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval and technological change. The Shakespeare in this book poses awkward questions rather than offering bland answers, always implicating us in working out what it might mean. This is Shakespeare. And he needs your attention

The taming of the shrew -- Richard III -- The comedy of errors -- Richard II -- Romeo and Juliet -- A midsummer night's dream -- The merchant of Venice -- Henry IV -- Much ado about nothing -- Julius Caesar -- Hamlet -- Twelfth night -- Measure for measure -- Othello -- King Lear -- Macbeth -- Antony and Cleopatra -- Coriolanus -- The winter's tale -- The tempest