Shakespeare and Authority: Citations, Conceptions and Constructions

Description

This book examines conceptions of authority for and in Shakespeare, and the construction of Shakespeare as literary and cultural authority. The first section, Defining and Redefining Authority, begins by re-defining the concept of Shakespeare’s sources, suggesting that ‘authorities’ and ‘resources’ are more appropriate terms. Building on this conceptual framework, the remainder of this section explores linguistic and discursive authority more broadly. The second section, Shakespearean Authority, considers the construction, performance and questioning of authority in Shakespeare’s plays. Essays here range from examinations of monarchical authority to discussions of household authority, literary authority and linguistic ownership. The final part, Shakespeare as Authority, then traces the increasing establishment of Shakespeare as an authority from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century in a series of essays that explore Shakespearean authority for editors, actors, critics, authors, readers and audiences. The volume concludes with two essays that reassess Shakespeare as an authority for visual culture – in the cinema and in contemporary art. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi ‘Dressed in a Little Brief Authority’: Authority Before, During, and After Shakespeare’s Plays (Katie Halsey, Angus Vine)....Pages 1-27 Front Matter ....Pages 29-29 Shakespeare’s Authorities (Colin Burrow)....Pages 31-53 Inside the Elephant’s Graveyard: Revising Geoffrey Bullough’s Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare (John Drakakis)....Pages 55-78 Author and Authority in the OED: Nashe v. Shakespeare (Giles Goodland)....Pages 79-111 ‘The King’s English’ ‘Our English’?: Shakespeare and Linguistic Ownership (Margaret Tudeau-Clayton)....Pages 113-133 Foundations of Sovereign Authority: The Example of Shakespearean Political Drama (Eric Heinze)....Pages 135-154 Front Matter ....Pages 155-155 ‘A Trim Reckoning’: Accountability and Authority in 1 and 2 Henry IV (Angus Vine)....Pages 157-178 The King’s Ring: A Matter of Trust (Joseph Sterrett)....Pages 179-194 ‘Constant in any Undertaking’: Writing the Lipsian State in Measure for Measure (Daniel Cadman)....Pages 195-212 Duty and Authority: Malvolio, Stewardship and Montague’s Household Book (Eleanor Lowe)....Pages 213-229 Poetic Authority in Julius Caesar: The Triumph of the Poet-Playwright-Actor (Laetitia Sansonetti)....Pages 231-246 Front Matter ....Pages 247-247 Authority of the Actor in the Eighteenth Century (James Harriman-Smith)....Pages 249-264 Shakespeare, Rule-Breaking and Artistic Genius: The Case of Sir John Soane (Andrew Rudd)....Pages 265-280 Whose Gothic Bard? Charles Robert Maturin and Contestations of Shakespearean Authority in British/Irish Romantic Culture (Benedicte Seynhaeve, Raphaël Ingelbien)....Pages 281-300 Authority, Instrumental Reason and the Fault Lines of Modern Civilization in Peter Brook’s Cinematic Rendering of Shakespeare’s King Lear (Fred Ribkoff, Paul Tyndall)....Pages 301-316 Will Power: Visualising Shakespeare’s Authority in Contemporary Culture (Jane Partner)....Pages 317-335 Back Matter ....Pages 337-347