HAMLET VERSUS LEAR by R. A. Foakes ( 9780521607056 ) - Books & Audio Books at Pickabook.co.uk

Item Details

Title:

HAMLET VERSUS LEAR
CULTURAL POLITICS AND SHAKESPEARE'S ART

By:

R. A. Foakes

Format:

Paperback

List price:

£39.99

Our price:

£34.99

Discount:

12.5% off

You save:

£5.00

ISBN 10:

0521607051

ISBN 13:

9780521607056

Availability:

Usually dispatched within 1-3 weeks.

Delivery rates

Stock:

Currently 0 available

Publisher:

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

2 May, 2004

Pages:

276

Description:

A consideration of the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of 'greatest' among his work.

Synopsis:

This book focuses on the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of 'greatest' among his works. Hamlet remained a focal point of reference until about 1960, when it was displaced by King Lear, a play which at the same time ceased to be perceived as a play of redemption and became a play of despair. Foakes attempts to explain these shifts by analysing the reception of the plays since about 1800, an analysis which necessarily engages with the politics of the plays and the politics of criticism. Recent critical theorising has destabilised the texts and undermined the notion of 'greatness' or any consideration of the plays as works of art. Foakes takes issue with such theories and reconsiders textual revisions, in order to argue for the integrity of the plays as reading texts, and to recover a flexible sense of their artistry in relation to meaning. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of Shakespeare and to theatre-goers.

Publication:

Imprint:

Cambridge University Press

Returns:

Returnable

Some other items by this author:

"ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA"

"KING HENRY VIII" (HB)

"KING LEAR" (HB)

"KING LEAR" (PB)

"MACBETH"

"OTHELLO"