Shakespeare's dialectic of hope : from the political to the utopian / Hugh Grady, Arcadia University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grady, Hugh, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Political and social views.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Utopias in literature.

utopian literature.

Political and social views.

Genre:

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

ix, 247 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

"Closely examining the relationship between the political and the utopian in five major plays from different phases of Shakespeare's career, Hugh Grady shows the dialectical link between the earlier political dramas and the late plays or tragicomedies. Reading Julius Caesar and Macbeth from the tragic period alongside The Winter's Tale and The Tempest from the utopian end of Shakespeare's career, with Antony and Cleopatra acting as a transition, Grady reveals how, in the late plays, Shakespeare introduces a transformative element of hope while never losing a sharp awareness of suffering and death. The plays presciently confront dilemmas of an emerging modernity, diagnosing and indicting instrumental politics and capitalism as largely disastrous developments leading to an empty world devoid of meaning and community. Grady persuasively argues that the utopian vision is a specific dialectical response to these fears and a necessity in worlds of injustice, madness, and death"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-244) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Grady, Hugh, 1947- Shakespeare's dialectic of hope

ISBN:

9781009098090

1009098098

9781009107754

1009107755

OCLC:

1264139531