Shakespeare's Ideas (eBook)

More Things in Heaven and Earth

David Bevington (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2011 | 1. Auflage
248 Seiten
John Wiley & Sons (Verlag)
978-1-4443-5763-9 (ISBN)

Infos

An in-depth exploration, through his plays and poems, of the
philosophy of Shakespeare as a great poet, a great dramatist and a
"great mind".

* Written by a leading Shakespearean scholar

* Discusses an array of topics, including sex and gender,
politics and political theory, writing and acting, religious
controversy and issues of faith, skepticism and misanthropy, and
closure

* Explores Shakespeare as a great poet, a great dramatist and a
"great mind"

Autor

David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His numerous publications include The Bantam Shakespeare, in 29 paperback volumes (1988, new edition forthcoming), and The Complete Works of Shakespeare (fifth edition, 2003), as well as the Oxford Shakespeare edition of Henry IV Part I (1987), the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of Antony and Cleopatra (second edition, 2005), and the Arden Shakespeare edition of Troilus and Cressida (1998). He is the senior editor of the Revels Student Editions, and is a senior editor of the Revels Plays and of the forthcoming Cambridge edition of the works of Ben Jonson. He is also general editor of English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology (2002), and the author of Shakespeare: The Seven Ages of Human Experience (second edition, Blackwell, 2005).

Inhalt

Acknowledgements ix

1 A Natural Philosopher 1

2 Lust in Action

Shakespeare's Ideas on Sex and Gender 15

3 What is Honour?

Shakespeare's Ideas on Politics and Political Theory 42

4 Hold the Mirror Up to Nature

Shakespeare's Ideas on Writing and Acting 74

5 What Form of Prayer Can Serve My Turn?

Shakespeare's Ideas on Religious Controversy and Issues
of Faith 106

6 Is Man No More Than This?

Shakespeare's Ideas on Scepticism, Doubt, Stoicism, Pessimism,
Misanthropy 143

7 Here Our Play Has Ending

Ideas of Closure in the Late Plays 177

8 Credo 213

Further Reading 218

Index 227

Rezensionen

"Bevington sees a development in how important Shakespeare felt
certain topics were, and so the structure of the book is both
chronological and thematic, beginning with the early romances and
ending with the dark eschatology of the last plays."
(English, December 2010)

"The book ranges across almost the entire canon, bringing
together telling moments from an array of texts, but pausing long
enough on particular plays to offer nuanced readings. The
undergraduate or general reader should enjoy this fluent and
well-paced tour through the major plays, and will get a good sense,
especially in the first half of the book, of important political,
religious and dramatic contexts. The carefully chosen bibliography
should stimulate students to explore the ideas summarized here in
considerably more detail." (Times Higher Education
Supplement, December 2008)

"Bevington's newest book wears its considerable erudition
lightly and, for the most part, well. Bevington (Univ. of Chicago)
begins by pointing out that one cannot know the thoughts of
Shakespeare the man, but that the plays and poems, looked at as a
whole, do present a kind of philosophy--one of balance and
moderation. Chapters on sex and gender, politics, writing,
religion, and other topics all suggest that though Shakespeare
created characters with extreme and wide-ranging views, the world
of the plays (and thus perhaps of Shakespeare himself) rewards
compassion, understanding, forgiveness, duty, and above all, love.
In general, this is not a book for scholars; Bevington does not
offer highly theoretical readings or bring up scholarly debates
about meaning and textuality. But his immense knowledge of the
plays and the era allow him to present complex ideas in an
engaging, completely readable manner that will appeal to all
readers, no matter their background. Though it offers nothing new
to those who study the plays for a living, everyone else will find
it a masterpiece of thoughtful investigation into the plays."
(Choice, February 2009)

"It's an absorbing journey, and one that will fascinate both
general readers and serious scholars alike." (Yorkshire Evening
Post, October 2008)

"Lucid, wise and finely balanced, David Bevington's exploration of
the ideas at work in Shakespeare is essential reading for beginners
and experts alike."

-Alexander Leggatt, Professor Emeritus of English,
University of Toronto

"Shakespeare's Ideas offers all that we have come
to expect of David Bevington. I cannot think of a better, more
judicious scholar to guide us through the complexities of
Shakespeare's political and moral philosophy."

-James Schiffer, SUNY New Paltz

"The fruit of a half-century of teaching and thinking with
Shakespeare, David Bevington's well-judged and genuinely
informative account of Shakespeare's thought demonstrates his
trademark circumspection and thoroughgoing sensitivity to the
complexity and variety of the plays' questions. Useful no matter
what degree your acquaintance with the Bard."

-Claire McEachern, University of California, Los
Angeles

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.9.2011
• Reihe/Serie: Blackwell Great Minds
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Schlagworte: Englische Literatur / Shakespeare • Geschichte • History • history of ideas • Ideengeschichte • Literature • Literaturwissenschaft • Philosophie • Shakespeare • Shakespeare, William
• ISBN-10: 1-4443-5763-8 / 1444357638
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4443-5763-9 / 9781444357639