The Uses of the Canon: Elizabethan Literature and Contemporary TheoryClarendon, 1990 - 192 pages An important contribution to the current rethinking of "English," and to the reconsideration of Shakespeare's role within it, this book focuses on the emergence of the New Historicism, clarifying a number of key positions in the criticism of the past fifteen years. The essays subject many of New Historicism's most challenging claims to rigorous analysis, distinguish sharply between its American and British versions, and assess the causes and consequences of its politicization of literary studies. The theoretical and political issues at stake in current debates are clearly examined, and the uses served by the canonical texts at their center are re-examined within a broad cultural and historical perspective. Offering fresh readings of a number of classic texts--including Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Shakespeare's sonnets, More's Utopia, Donne's poetry, and Conrad's Heart of Darkness--this overview of contemporary critical theory and practice provides a deepened understanding of the complex and changing functions of the canon itself. |
From inside the book
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Page 37
... opening of the play . Shakespeare , that is , presents us with a principal character who stakes his reputation , his happiness , his realm , his selfhood— stakes nothing less than everything — on his interpretation of behaviour partly ...
... opening of the play . Shakespeare , that is , presents us with a principal character who stakes his reputation , his happiness , his realm , his selfhood— stakes nothing less than everything — on his interpretation of behaviour partly ...
Page 45
... opening act . There , its rhetorical consequences are unavoidable , taking the form of quibbles , intended and unintended : ' Satisfy ? | Th ' entreaties of your mistress ? satisfy ? ' ( I.ii.233-4 ) ; of circumlocution : ' Nine changes ...
... opening act . There , its rhetorical consequences are unavoidable , taking the form of quibbles , intended and unintended : ' Satisfy ? | Th ' entreaties of your mistress ? satisfy ? ' ( I.ii.233-4 ) ; of circumlocution : ' Nine changes ...
Page 54
... opening act becomes , in the closing act , the means of resolving that problem . If we cannot know except through the dark glass of language , we might as well accept what is a necessary limitation on our knowledge . Like Leontes yet ...
... opening act becomes , in the closing act , the means of resolving that problem . If we cannot know except through the dark glass of language , we might as well accept what is a necessary limitation on our knowledge . Like Leontes yet ...
Contents
Romance and Romanticism | 16 |
Marlowe our Contemporary | 100 |
Early Utopian Discourse | 122 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Uses of the Canon: Elizabethan Literature and Contemporary Theory Howard Felperin No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute play allegory authentic authority Barker and Hulme Caliban canonical text century claim classic Coleridge colonial discourse construction contemporary context conventionalism criticism dark deconstruction demystification discursive con-texts dominant Donne Donne's dramatic edition Elizabethan empirical empiricism English essays F. R. Leavis foreground Frye Greenblatt Hamlet Heart of Darkness hermeneutic historical historicism historicists ideological institutional interpretation interpretive communities L. C. Knights language Leontes less linguistic literary studies literature London Malone Marlovian Marlowe Marlowe's Marxist meaning Methuen mimetic modern myth naïve nature new-critical new-historicist object older once paradox poet poetry political Polixenes position post-structuralism post-structuralist potential practices present problem Prospero's question radical re-inscription reading realism relativism Renaissance Renaissance Self-Fashioning representation represented rhetorical romance Sarracoll Sarracoll's seems sense Shakespeare Shakespeare's plays signified social Sonnets Stephen Greenblatt structuralist structure Tempest textualist textuality of history theatre theatrical tion tradition University Press Utopia Winter's Tale writing