Shakespeare in America / Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vaughan, Alden T., 1929-2024.

Contributor:

Vaughan, Virginia Mason.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Oxford Shakespeare topics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Criticism and interpretation.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Influence.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Stage history--United States.

United States.

Physical Description:

xii, 220 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Oxford Shakespeare Topics provide students and teachers with short books on important aspects of Shakespeare criticism and scholarship. Each book is written by an authority in its field, and combines accessible style with original discussion of its subject.

Shakespeare's reception in America in many ways parallels the larger, narrative of American history: tentative beginnings in the seventeenth century; strong but uneven expansion in the second half of the eighteenth century; geographic diversification and heightened sophistication in the nineteenth century; and bifurcation in the twentieth century, at least on the surface, into competing scholarly and light-hearted cultural trends.

Shakespeare in America is a lively account of America's embracing of Shakespeare's works in print and performance from the colonial era to the present. It traces Shakespeare's contributions to America's cultural history with substantial attention given to theatre history, publishing history, and criticism. The book identifies broad themes that distinguish Shakespeare's reception in the United States from the dramatist's reception in other countries, and considers evidence from diverse sources ranging from college curricula to burlesque shows.

Shakespeare in America examines America's evolving awareness of Shakespeare, from the earliest importations of his writing in the early eighteenth century to the late twentieth century adaptations of the plays for stage and screen, which often aimed to persuade American youth that Shakespeare could still speak to them. The book shows that the story of Shakespeare in America is ever-changing. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 American Beginnings 7

2 Making Shakespeare American 35

3 Shakespeare and American Expansion 71

4 Multicultural Shakespeare 107

5 Professional Shakespeare and Its Discontents 133

6 Popular Shakespeare 159

7 American Shakespeare Today 191.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199566389

0199566380

9780199566372

0199566372

OCLC:

759177631