Shakespeare in London

(Hardback)

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Shakespeare in London offers a lively and engaging new reading of some of Shakespeares major work, informed by close attention to the language of his drama. The focus of the book is on Shakespeares London, how it influenced his drama and how he represents it on stage. Taking readers on an imaginative journey through the city, the book moves both chronologically, from beginning to end of Shakespeares dramatic career, and also geographically, traversing London from west to east. Each chapter focuses on one play and one key location, drawing out the thematic connections between that place and the drama it underwrites. Plays discussed in detail include Hamlet, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. Close textual readings accompany the wealth of contextual material, providing a fresh and exciting way into Shakespeares work.

Reviews

An evocative journey that places Shakespeares plays in a revealing urban context * The Guardian *
[An] excellent book ... with clear prose, a valuable context-specific chronology, focussed further reading, and astute plot summaries ... The authors' extensive research is worn elegantly, as they gloss, surprise, and unlock. * English Journal *
[An] excellent and imaginatively construed new book ... From its introduction imagining Shakespeare first walking into London to its epilogue showing how Henry VIII represented the Tower of London, Shakespeare in London manages to be both a useful guide and full of insight, a rare combination. * Around the Globe *
[An] allusive, thought-provoking and approachable work that should be required reading for any undergraduate student of early-modern English literature ... Shakespeare in London offers useful insights into Shakespeares work and his working practices. But it is also a wonderful, wide-ranging introduction to the richness and complexity of late-Elizabethan and early-Jacobean society. It would be instructive reading for anyone. * History Today *
Crawforth, Dustagheer, and Young argue that the city in which Shakespeare lived and worked influenced the writing and performance of his plays. Each chapter of the book focuses on one play and one social or historical context for that play The authors provide useful supplementary materials: a chronology of Shakespeares life, traced against important contemporary events in London, and a list of suggested reading, arranged by subject Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. -- K. K. Smith, University of South Carolina, Aiken * CHOICE *
A well-written, user-friendly companion to Londons place in the plays and poems of Shakespeare as well as a good starting point for further research. It persuasively demonstrates that London is present in Shakespeares work in overt and indirect ways and offers a helpful overview of these references and, through them, an enriched reading of the plays. It will be a valuable purchase for university and research libraries keen to enhance their archive of key Shakespeare resources. * The London Journal *
The authors are to be congratulated on exploring [their topic] in fresh and exciting ways ... Augmented by the usual apparatus of the Arden Shakespeare series, including a chronology, eight illustrations and suggested further reading, this study evokes a palpable, powerful sense of Shakespeares London and the numerous ways in which it permeated his playwriting. * Early Modern Literary Studies *
Shakespeares comedies and tragedies seem to take place everywhere but Elizabethan London: Athens, Elsinore, Ephesus, Rome, Troy, Venice, Verona. This engaging book shows, contrary to received tradition, how deeply Shakespeares experience of life in London inspired the themes and scenes of plays purportedly set elsewhere * Lena Cowen Orlin, Professor of English, Georgetown University, USA *

Author Bio

Hannah Crawforth is Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies at King's College London, UK. Sarah Dustagheer is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at the University of Kent, UK. Jennifer Young is Teaching Fellow in English Literature (15901700) at the University of Leeds, UK.