Shakespeare's fascist followers modern friends Richard Wilson ; edited by Roger Holdsworth, David Thacker, and Robert Stagg

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Wilson, Richard, author.

Contributor:

• Holdsworth, Roger, editor.
• Thacker, David, editor.
• Stagg, Robert, editor.
• Bloomsbury (Firm), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Fascism and literature--England.
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.
• Fascism and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st edition

Place of Publication:

London The Arden Shakespeare 2025

Summary:

Richard Wilson's meticulously researched, powerfully argued and brilliantly written account of Shakespeare's 20th-century fascist followers is not just an important but a genuinely essential book.' Robert Shaughnessy, Guildford School of Acting, UK In this illuminating book, Richard Wilson demonstrates how in the 20th century Shakespeare and his plays were subjected to a misreading which served the purposes of proto-, present and future fascism. It exposes how Shakespeare was misappropriated by the far right to represent Britain's supposedly glorious history, and the ways in which they utilized him and the cultural capital of his work. Wilson's extensive and rigorous research also gestures beyond Britain, taking in case studies from North America, Germany and France. Some of the names this book unearths will surprise: many of the right-wing political views or leanings of the prominent figures discussed have been left unexplored or ignored. This book provides in-depth case studies of a wide variety of figures, from A. K. Chesterton, who was both editor of the British Union of Fascists' newspaper Blackshirt and former manager of press and publicity at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, to celebrated Shakespeareans such as G. Wilson Knight, through to writers, artists and theatre practitioners including W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Edward Gordon Craig and Marshall McLuhan, among others. At a time when democracy is under threat, populism is on the rise and far right views are increasingly prominent in our political landscape, Richard Wilson's book makes an especially vital contribution to Shakespeare scholarship

Contents:

• Foreword, Roger Holdsworth (University of Oxford, UK), Robert Stagg (University of Birmingham and University of Oxford, UK) and David Thacker (University of Bolton, UK)
• Introduction: Blackshirt Shakespeare
• Chapter 1. All Perform Their Tragic Play: Yeats Goes to Stratford
• Chapter 2. Hamlet in Weimar: Gordon Craig and the Nietzsche Archive
• Chapter 3. Dance of Death: Lawrence and the Morris Men
• Chapter 4. Memory Theatre: The Bad Demons of Frances Yates
• Chapter 5. Broken Coriolanus: Eliot's March on Rome
• Chapter 6. Black Swan: Shylock and the Chestertons
• Chapter 7. Crooked Cross: Wilson Knight and the Sun-Wheel
• Chapter 8. What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks: Marshall McLuhan's New Dawn
• Chapter 9. Operation Sea Lion: Carl Schmitt and the Scepter'd Isle
• Chapter 10. Bad Faith: Clara de Chambrun and Le Grand Will
• Epilogue: Shakespeare and the Merchant of Hamburg
• Notes
• Select Bibliography
• Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Other Format:

Print version Wilson, Richard. Shakespeare's fascist followers

ISBN:

• 9781350433885
• 1350433888
• 1350433861
• 9781350433861

OCLC:

1520505477

Publisher Number:

CIPO000284754

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license