Shakespeare's Histories and Counter-Histories - by Dermot Cavanagh & Stuart Hampton-Reeves & Stephen Longstaffe (Paperback)

About the Book

Shakespeare's history plays have always been pivotal to our understanding of his works and their relationship to their political and cultural context. This collection renews attention to these crucial plays by exploring official and unofficial versions of the past, histories and counter-histories.

From the Back Cover

Shakespeare's history plays have always been pivotal to our understanding of his works. This collection renews attention to these crucial plays by exploring official and unofficial versions of the past, histories and counter-histories in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. By exploring the diversity of Shakespeare's engagement with history in all its forms, these contributors open up a range of new interpretive possibilities for understanding the way history 'plays' with the past.

The book is divided into three sections: Memory and mourning, Counter-histories, Identity and performance. In each section, leading theorists, historicists and performance critics offer fresh perspectives on the key issues that are transforming our understanding of Shakespeare. These include: gender and violence, the mapping of Britain, cultural memory and religion.

This collection will appeal to all critically engaged readers of Shakespeare. In particular it will command wide-ranging interest from undergraduates, postgraduates, academic researchers and students of early modern theatre, history and culture.

About the Author

Dermot Cavanagh is Lecturer in English at the University of Edinburgh. Stuart Hampton-Reeves is Principal Lecturer in English and Drama at the University of Central Lancashire. Stephen Longstaffe is Lecturer in English and Drama at St. Martin's College, Lancaster.