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What has been the appeal of Anne Hathaway, both globally and temporally, over the past four hundred years? Why does she continue to be reinterpreted and reshaped? Imagining Shakespeare's Wife examines representations of Hathaway, from the earliest depictions and details in the eighteenth century, to contemporary portrayals in theatre, biographies and novels. Residing in the nexus between Shakespeare's life and works, Hathaway has been constructed to explain the women in the plays but also composed from the material in the plays. Presenting the very first cultural history of Hathaway, Katherine Scheil offers a richly original study that uncovers how the material circumstances of history affect the later reconstruction of lives.
In the late nineteenth century hundreds of clubs formed across the United States devoted to the reading of Shakespeare. From Pasadena, California, to the seaside town of Camden, Maine; from the isolated farm town of Ottumwa, Iowa, to Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf coast, Americans were reading Shakespeare in astonishing numbers and in surprising places. Composed mainly of women, these clubs offered the opportunity for members not only to read and study Shakespeare but also to participate in public and civic activities outside the home. In She Hath Been Reading, Katherine West Scheil uncovers this hidden layer of intellectual activity that flourished in American society well into the twentieth ...
This book is a comprehensive study of the reception history of Shakespeare's comedies within the context of Restoration and early eighteenth-century theater, from 1660 until the Licensing Act of 1737. In the absence of an overarching methodology or ideology about how to adapt Shaekspeare, eighteenth-century playwright were motivated by popular taste and shaped Shakespeare accordingly. Shakespeare's comedies provided ideal raw material to adjust to current theatrical and cultural trends such as the popularity of music and dance, changing forms of comedy, political controversies, the fluidity of acting companies, the development of dramatic forms, and the influence of print culture. A recently edited play, a popular comic actor, a new musical composer, or a novel of constructing a dramatic piece affected the ways Shakespeare's comedies were reshaped according to local theatrical condtitions.
In The Taste of the Town: Shakespearian Comedy and the Early Eighteenth-Century Theater, Katherine West Scheil considers the reception history of Shakespeare's comedies within the context of the Restoration and early eighteenth-century theater, from 1660 until the Licensing Act of 1737. In the absence of an overarching methodology about how to stage and interpret Shakespeare, playwrights of the period were motivated by popular taste, and adapted and appropriated Shakespearian comedy according to current theatrical and cultural trends. Scheil discusses how the popularity of music and dance, poiltical controversies, the fluidity of acting companies, the influence of print culture, a recently edited play, a popular comic actor, a new musical composer, or a novel way of constructing a scene affected the rendition of Shakespeare's comedies to appeal to the taste of town. Thoroughly researched and carefully argued, The Taste of the Town, is a valuable and timely contribution to the understanding of the culture and practice of the Restoration and early eighteenth-century theater; as well as to the history of Shakespeare's early reputation.
The relationship between modern drama and Shakespeare remains intense and fruitful, as Shakespearian themes continue to permeate contemporary plays, films, and other art-forms. Shakespeare/Adaptation/Modern Drama is the first book-length international study to examine the critical and theatrical connections among these fields, including the motivations, methods, and limits of adaptation in modern performance media. Top scholars including Peter Holland, Alexander Leggatt, Brian Parker, and Stanley Wells examine such topics as the relationship between Shakespeare and modern drama in the context of current literary theories and historical accounts of adaptive and appropriative practices. Among the diverse and intriguing examples studied are the authorial self-adaptations of Tom Stoppard and Tennessee Williams, and the generic and political appropriations of Shakespeare's texts in television, musical theatre, and memoir. This illuminating and theoretically astute tribute to Renaissance and modern drama scholar Jill Levenson will stimulate further research on the evolving adaptive and intertextual relationships between influential literary works and periods.
"Dugas credits the reemergence of Shakespeare's plays and his rise to fame in the 1700s to economic factors surrounding the theater business including the acquisition and adaptation of Shakespeare's plays by the Tonson publishing firm, which marketed collector's editions of his work, spurring a price war and rousing public interest"--Provided by publisher.
This collection tells the life stories of the people whom we know Shakespeare encountered, shedding new light on Shakespeare's life and times.
This book examines the lives and tenures of all the consorts of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs of England between 1485 and 1714, as well as the wives of the two Lords Protector during the Commonwealth. The figures in Tudor and Stuart Consorts are both incredibly familiar—especially the six wives of Henry VIII—and exceedingly unfamiliar, such as George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne. These innovative and authoritative biographies recognise the important role consorts played in a period before constitutional monarchy: in addition to correcting popular assumptions that are based on limited historical evidence, the chapters provide a fuller picture of the role of consort that goes beyond discussions of exceptionalism and subversion. This volume and its companions reveal the changing nature of English consortship from the Norman Conquest to today.
Babylon under Western Eyes examines the mythic legacy of ancient Babylon, the Near Eastern city which has served western culture as a metaphor for power, luxury, and exotic magnificence for more than two thousand years. Sifting through the many references to Babylon in biblical, classical, medieval, and modern texts, Andrew Scheil uses Babylon's remarkable literary ubiquity as the foundation for a thorough analysis of the dynamics of adaptation and allusion in western literature. Touching on everything from Old English poetry to the contemporary apocalyptic fiction of the "Left Behind" series, Scheil outlines how medieval Christian society and its cultural successors have adopted Babylon as a political metaphor, a degenerate archetype, and a place associated with the sublime. Combining remarkable erudition with a clear and accessible style, Babylon under Western Eyes is the first comprehensive examination of Babylon's significance within the pantheon of western literature and a testimonial to the continuing influence of biblical, classical, and medieval paradigms in modern culture.
Deborah C. Payne explores how the duopoly of 1660 impacted company practices, stagecraft, the box office, and actors and writers.