Description |
xviii, 237 pages ; 24 cm |
Series |
Cambridge companions to literature |
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Cambridge companions to literature.
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Contents |
PART 1. Shakespeare and comic traadition. 1. Theories of comedy / David Galbraith -- 2. Roman comedy / Robert S. Miola -- 3. Italian stories on the stage / Louise George Clubb -- 4. Elizabethan comedy / Janette Dillon -- 5. Popular festivity / François Laroque -- PAR T 2. Shakespearean comedy. 6. Forms of confusion / John Creaser -- 7. Love and courtship / Catherine Bates -- 8. Laughing at "others" / Edward Berry -- 9. Comedy and sex / Alexander Leggatt -- 10. Language and comedy / Lynne Magnusson -- 11. Sexual disguise and the theatre of gender / Barbara Hodgdon -- 12. Matters of state / Anthony Miller -- 13. The experiment of romance / Michael O'Connell |
Summary |
This is an accessible, wide-ranging and informed introduction to Shakespeare's comedies and romances. Rather than taking each play in isolation, the chapters trace recurring issues, suggesting both the continuity and the variety of Shakespeare's practice and the creative use he made of the conventions he inherited. The first section puts Shakespeare in the context of classical and Renaissance comedy and comic theory, the work of his Elizabethan predecessors and the traditions of popular festivity. The second section traces a number of themes through Shakespeare's early and middle comedies, dark comedies and late romances, establishing the key features of his comedy as a whole and illuminating particular plays by close analysis. Individual chapters draw on contemporary politics, rhetoric, and the history of Shakespeare production. Written by experts in the relevant fields, the chapters bring the reader up to date on current thinking and frequently challenge long-standing critical assumptions |
Notes |
Part of Cambridge companions online |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-233) and index |
Notes |
Mode of access: World Wide Web |
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Print version record |
In |
Cambridge Collections Online |
Subject |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Comedies -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
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Comedy -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
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Comedy -- 1558-1625 -- Handbooks, manuals, etc
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English drama (Comedy) -- 1558-1625
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Genre/Form |
Handbooks and manuals.
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Fiction.
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Handbooks and manuals.
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Author |
Leggatt, Alexander.
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Cambridge University Press.
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LC no. |
2001025933 |
ISBN |
9780521770446 (hardback) |
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9780521779425 (paperback) |
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0521770440 (hardback) |
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0521779421 (paperback) |
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