
How original was Shakespeare and how was Shakespeare original? This lucid, innovative book sets about answering these questions by putting them in historical context and investigating how the dramatist worked with his sources: plays, poems, chronicles and prose romances. Shakespeare's Originality unlocks its topic with rewarding precision and flair, showing through a series of case studies that range across the output—from the mature comedies to the great tragedies, from Richard III to The Tempest—what can be learned about the artistry of the plays by thinking about these sources (including newly identified ones) after several decades of neglect. Discussion is enriched by such matters as Elizabethan ruffs and feathers, actors' footwork, chronicle history, modern theatre productions, debts to classical tragedy, scepticism, magic and science, the agricultural revolution, and ecological catastrophe. This is authoritative, lively work by one of the world's leading Shakespearians, accessible to the general reader as well as indispensable for students.
This book investigates the nature and extent of Shakespeare's originality by examining his creative engagement with historical sources and contemporary cultural contexts. John Kerrigan, a prominent scholar in the field, utilizes a series of targeted case studies to analyze how the playwright transformed existing chronicles, poems, and prose romances into his own distinct dramatic works. By situating Shakespeare's artistry within the specific intellectual and material conditions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the author argues that true originality lies in the sophisticated synthesis and subversion of established source material.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and students recognize this work as a significant contribution to Shakespearean studies due to its rigorous methodology and historical grounding. Readers frequently note that the prose remains accessible to a general audience while maintaining the depth required for academic research.
Page Count:
181
Publication Date:
2017-01-01
Publisher:
OUP Oxford
ISBN-10:
0192512528
ISBN-13:
9780192512529
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