The Arden Research Handbook of Contemporary Shakespeare Criticism

Description

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 cognitive ethology 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 A–Z 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. Cover Contents List of Illustrations and Tables Notes on Contributors Series Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction:Twenty-first-century Shakespeares Evelyn Gajowski PART ONE: FOUNDATIONAL STUDIES 1.1 Close reading and New Criticism Kent Cartwright 1.2 Genre studies Michelle M. Dowd 1.3 Character studies Michael Bristol PART TWO: CHALLENGES TO TRADITIONAL LIBERAL HUMANISM 2.1 Marxist studies Christian Smith 2.2 New historicist studies Hugh Grady 2.3 Cultural materialist studies Christopher Marlow 2.4 Feminist studies Jessica McCall 2.5 Psychoanalytic studies Carolyn E. Brown PART THREE: MATTERS OF DIFFERENCE 3.1 Critical race studies Arthur L. Little, Jr 3.2 Postcolonial studies Ruben Espinosa 3.3 Queer studies Anthony Guy Patricia PART FOUR: MILLENNIAL DIRECTIONS 4.1 Ecocritical studies Randall Martin 4.2 Computational studies Brett Greatley-Hirsch 4.3 Spiritual studies Peter Atkinson 4.4 Presentist studies Miguel Ramalhete Gomes 4.5 Global studies Alexa Alice Joubin PART FIVE: TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY DIRECTIONS 5.1 Disability studies Katherine Schaap Williams 5.2 Ecofeminist studies Jennifer Munroe and Rebecca Laroche 5.3 Posthumanist studies Karen Raber 5.4 Cognitive ethology studies Craig Dionne APPENDICES Appendix A: Timeline of significant developments Evelyn Gajowski Appendix B: A–Z glossary of key terms Gary Lindeburg Appendix C: Annotated bibliography Dorothy C. Vanderford Appendix D: Resources for further research Gary Lindeburg Index