Shakespeare's literary authorship / Patrick Cheney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cheney, Patrick, 1949-

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Criticism and interpretation.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Authorship.

Authorship.

Physical Description:

xxv, 296 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2008]

Summary:

Re-situating Shakespeare historically as an early modern professional, Patrick Cheney views him not simply as a man of the theatre, but also as an author with a literary career. Cheney argues that Shakespeare's genius for disappearing into 'character' within the collaborative work of the theatre counters Elizabethan England's dominant model of authorship. Rather than present himself as a national or laureate poet, as Edmund Spenser does, Shakespeare conceals his authorship through dramaturgy, rendering his artistic techniques and literary ambitions opaque. Accordingly, recent scholars have attended more to his innovative theatricality or his indifference to textuality than to his contribution to modern English authorship. By tracking Shakespeare's 'counter-laureate authorship', Cheney builds upon his previous study on Shakespeare and literary authorship, and demonstrates the presence throughout the plays of sustained intertextual fictions about the twin media of printed poetry and theatrical performance. In challenging Spenser as England's National Poet, Shakespeare reinvents English authorship as a key part of his legacy.

Contents:

Introduction: 'Printless foot': finding Shakespeare 1

Part I Rethinking Shakespearean Authorship 29

1 The epic spear of Achilles: Self-concealing authorship in The Rape of Lucrece, Troilus and Cressida, and Hamlet 31

2 The forms of 'counter-laureate authorship': Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1 Henry IV, The Tempest 63

3 Lyric poetry in Shakespearean theatre: As You Like It, 1 Henry IV, Henry V, The Tempest 90

4 Books and theatre in Shakespeare's plays: Richard III, Love's Labour's Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Othello 119

Part II Fictions of Authorship 147

5 'Show of love ... bookish rule': Books, theatre, and literary history in 2 Henry VI 149

6 Halting sonnets: The comedy of Petrarchan desire in Much Ado about Nothing 179

7 The profession of consciousness: Hamlet, tragedy, and the literary eternal 203

8 Venting rhyme for a mockery: Cymbeline and national romance 234.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521881661

0521881668

OCLC:

191891562