This study examines how Shakespeare and his contemporaries made the difficult transition from writing plays for the theatre to publishing them as literary works. Tracing the path from playhouse to printing house, Douglas Brooks analyses how and why certain popular plays found their way into print while many others failed to do so and looks at the role played by the Renaissance book trade in shaping literary reputations. Incorporating many finely observed typographical illustrations, this book focuses on plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, Webster and Beaumont and Fletcher as well as reviewing the complicated publication history of Thomas Heywood's work. Brooks uncovers the continually shifting relationship between theatre and publisher and defines the way in which the concept of authorship changed. His book represents an important contribution to the refiguration of two histories: English Renaissance drama and the early modern book.
The issue of the Jews deeply engaged Milton throughout his career, and not necessarily in ways that make for comfortable or reassuring reading today. While Shakespeare and Marlowe, for example, critiqued rather than endorsed racial and religious prejudice in their writings about Jews, the same cannot be said for Milton. The scholars in this collection confront a writer who participated in the sad history of anti-Semitism, even as he appropriated Jewish models throughout his writings. Well grounded in solid historical and theological research, the essays both collectively and individually offer an important contribution to the debate on Milton and Judaism. This book will be of interest not only to scholars of Milton and of seventeenth-century literature, but also to historians of the religion and culture of the period.
Looking at the cultural and historical intersection between textual and sexual reproduction, American and British scholars of literature reveal that during the early modern period, the awkward and inc
This remarkable edition features a newly edited text of King Lear based on the earliest printed text of the play, along with detailed notes and performance annotations. An integrated audio CD showcase
