Shakespeares Comedies: EPZ Edition (Blackwell Guides to Criticism)

Product Descriptionthisguide Introduces Students To Critical Writing On ShakespeareS Comedies Over The Last Four Centuries.Guides Students Through Four Centuries Of Critical Writing On ShakespeareS History Plays. Covers Both Significant Early Views And Recent Critical Interventions. Substantial Editorial Material Links The Articles And Places Them In Context. Annotated Suggestions For Further Reading Allow Students To Investigate Further. ReviewClearly Designed To Make Friendly That Enormous And Daunting Edifice Of Shakespeare Criticism. [...] Extremely Helful Historical And Generic OverviewsThes[And Talking About All Three Books Together:]Altogether, Either As The Source Of Critical Thinking Or As Reference Guides And Bibliographies, These Volumes Will Prove Convenient And Interesting As Auhtoritatively Conducted Tours Of Their Domains. Thesfrom The Back Covercriticism Of ShakespeareS Comedies Has Shifted From Stressing Their LightHearted And Festive Qualities To Giving A Stronger Sense Of Their Dark Aspects And Their Social Resonances. This Volume Introduces The Key Critical Debates Under Five Headings: Genre, History And Politics, Gender And Sexuality, Language, And Performance. The Guide Serves Students Of Shakespeare In Two Ways. Firstly, By Presenting Ten Recent Critical Interventions In The Field Of Shakespeare Studies, It Provides An UpToDate Compendium Of Current Scholarship. All The Articles Are Contextualised With Brief Critical Overviews And Annotated Suggestions For Further Reading. An Additional Chapter On PreTwentiethCentury Criticism Is Mainly In Narrative Form But Excerpts Significant Early Views By Johnson, Hazlitt And Coleridge. Thus, Secondly, The Volume Acts As A Guide To Further Reading To Help Students Extend Their Knowledge Of Shakespeare Criticism.About The Authoremma Smith Is Fellow Of Hertford College And Lecturer In English At Oxford University. Her Publications Includethomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedie (Ed. 1998) Andshakespeare In Production: Henry V (2000).