The Arden Research Handbook of Contemporary Shakespeare Criticism

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The Arden Research Handbook of Contemporary Shakespeare Criticism is a wide-ranging, authoritative guide to research on critical approaches to Shakespeare by an international team of leading scholars. It contains chapters on 20 specific critical practices, each grounded in analysis of a Shakespeare play. These practices range from foundational approaches including character studies, close reading and genre studies, through those that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s that challenged the preconceptions on which traditional liberal humanism is based, including feminism, cultural materialism and new historicism. Perspectives drawn from postcolonial, queer studies and critical race studies, besides more recent critical practices including presentism, ecofeminism and disability all receive detailed treatment. In addition to its coverage of distinct critical approaches, the handbook contains various sections that provide non-specialists with practical help: an AZ glossary of key terms and concepts, a chronology of major publications and events, an introduction to resources for study of the field and a substantial annotated bibliography.

Reviews

A vital collection for anyone who is studying Shakespeare. This handbook deftly covers the critical lenses that have been applied to Shakespeares works in the past and provides a window into what is to come. * Ayanna Thompson, Arizona State University, USA *
One of the strengths of this book is its scholarly comprehensiveness, which alone will render it indispensable for future researchers and committed students. Another is Its lucidity and accessibility. Yet even more significant is the way it situates Shakespeare in relation to the most fertile and exciting intellectual moment the university humanities have ever seen, and the likes of which we might not see again, given what's happening to higher education in the West. * Professor Jonathan Dollimore, formerly University of Sussex, UK *
What this collection does do is open up possibilities of thinking differently and learning from others. The book is structured in a roughly chronological order, each chapter is useful in not only providing a history of each form of study but also clarifies important terms and offers a good bibliography for further study. Moreover, there are helpful appendices with a glossary and annotated bibliography ... In conclusion, this is an indispensable help for all critics, young and old. * Alicante Journal of English Studies *

Author Bio

Evelyn Gajowski is Barrick Distinguished Scholar and Professor of English Emerita at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. She has published four books: The Merry Wives of Windsor: New Critical Essays, with Phyllis Rackin (2015); Presentism, Gender, and Sexuality in Shakespeare (2009); Re-Visions of Shakespeare: Essays in Honor of Robert Ornstein (2004); and The Art of Loving: Female Subjectivity and Male Discursive Traditions in Shakespeare's Tragedies (1992). She serves as Series Editor of the Arden Shakespeare and Theory Series.