Joyce / Shakespeare - (Irish Studies) by Laura Pelaschiar (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Shakespeare's presence in Joyce's work is tentacular, extending throughout his career on many different levels: cultural, structural, lexical, and psychological; yet a surprisingly long time has passed since the last monograph on this literary nexus was published. Joyce/Shakespeare brings together fresh work by internationally recognized Joyce scholars on these two icons, reinvigorating our understanding of Joyce at play with the Bard. One way these essays revitalize the discussion is by moving well beyond the traditional Joycean challenge of "thinking Shakespearean" by "thinking Hamletian," redefining the field to include works like Troilus and Cressida, Othello, and The Tempest. This collection also transforms our understanding of how Hamlet works in and for Joyce. In compelling essays that introduce new variables to the equation such as Trieste, Goethe, and Futurism, Hamlet's role in Joyce gains fresh mobility. The Danish prince's shadow, we learn, can still cast itself in unpredictable shapes, making Joyce/Shakespeare as rewarding in its analyses of this well-studied pairing as it is when it considers fresh Shakespearean matches.

Review Quotes

The last word on Shakespeare and Joyce will never be spoken of course, nor should it. Laura Pelaschiar has assembled some of the best Joycean minds on the subject who, in tune with the theme at hand, fill odd gaps and develop new and unexpected insights.-- "Fritz Senn, founder and director of the James Joyce Foundation in Zürich"

This collection gathers an impressive international group of Joyce critics who combine to give a series of superlative essays replete with many excellent readings of the intertextual network connecting Joyce and Shakespeare.-- "Jean-Michel Rabaté, professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Pennsylvania"

About the Author

Laura Pelaschiar is a lecturer in English literature at the University of Trieste. She is director of the Trieste Joyce School and author of Writing the North: The Contemporary Novel in Modern Ireland.