Antedating Shakespeare's poems and plays / Penny McCarthy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McCarthy, Penny, 1943- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Chronology.

Shakespeare, William.

Physical Description:

xiii, 182 pages : illustrations, charts ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024.

Summary:

"The academic community treats the chronology of Shakespeare’s works as settled. He supposedly served an apprenticeship collaborating on plays in the 1580s, wrote two great poems in the early 90s, three plays a year from the mid-90s, some problem plays around the turn of the century, then his greatest tragedies, and finally some 'romances' late in his career. This investigation highlights the flaws in the consensus view: over-reliance on precarious stylometrics, dubious identification of topical relevance, and unfounded conviction that composition preceded publication, performance, or first mention by only a short interval. Concentrating on his poems and six of his plays, the study ascribes parallels in others’ literary works to their authors’ imitation or parodying of Shakespeare, not vice versa. The importance of patronage circles rather than London theatre companies to writers, players, and printers is spelled out. The conclusion is that Shakespeare’s works must be radically antedated." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction. Treble-dated

Good crows and bad

Three 1580s poems

The tempest

The Henry IV plays

Macbeth

Cymbeline

Phoenix and the turtle

Pericles

Growth of a slender poet

Envoi : fledglings together.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

103641003X

9781036410049

1036410048

9781036410032

OCLC:

1452190561