About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherCambridge University Press

ISBN-100521033780

ISBN-139780521033787

eBay Product ID (ePID)57027367

Product Key Features

Number of Pages288 Pages

Publication NameShakespeare's Troy : Drama, Politics, and the Translation of Empire

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2007

SubjectFairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology, Shakespeare, Subjects & Themes / Historical events, Subjects & Themes / Politics, European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Drama

AuthorHeather James

SeriesCambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight15.5 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

Dewey Edition21

Reviews"James's readings of the plays are strong and convincing, and her reevaluation of the iconography of the theater remains a valuable critical enterprise." Rachana Sachdev, Review, "...much of what James says in this often provocative book is compelling....James's book is well worth reading..." Comparative Literature, "A major contribution to understanding Shakespeare's poetic traditions, this volume consistently illuminates the presence of Vergil and Ovid in Shakespeare's language." N. Lukacher, Choice, "The book makes a significant contribution to Shakespeare studies through foregrounding the myth of Trojan origins and through challenging traditional interpretations of it as a vehicle primarily for praise of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs." Sara Hanna, Clio

Series Volume NumberSeries Number 22

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal822.3/3

Table Of ContentList of illustrations; acknowledgements; Introduction: Shakespeare's fatal Cleopatra; 1. Shakespeare and the Troy legend; 2. Blazoning injustices: mutilating Titus Andronicus, Virgil and Rome; 3. 'Tricks we play on the dead': making history in Troilus and Cressida; 4. To earn a place in the story: resisting the Aeneid in Antony and Cleopatra; 5. Cymbeline's mingle-mangle: Britain's Roman histories; 6. 'How came that widow in?': allusion, politics and the theatre in The Tempest; Notes; Index.

SynopsisHeather James shows how Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources forms part of a larger attempt to find historical legitimacy for Britain as a realm asserting its status as an empire. She goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth from 'official' Tudor and Stuart ideology., Heather James examines the ways in which Shakespeare handles the inheritance and transmission of the Troy legend. She argues that Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources demonstrates the appropriation of classical authority in the interests of developing a national myth, and goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth from 'official' Tudor and Stuart ideology. James traces Shakespeare's reworking of the myth in Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline and The Tempest, and shows how the legend of Troy in Queen Elizabeth's day differed from that in the time of King James. The larger issue the book confronts is the directly political one of the way in which Shakespeare's textual appropriations participate in the larger cultural project of finding historical legitimation for a realm that was asserting its status as an empire., Heather James argues that Shakespeare's use of Virgil, Ovid and other classical sources demonstrates the appropriation of classical authority in the interests of developing a national myth. She goes on to distinguish Shakespeare's deployment of the myth--notably in Troilus and Cressida, Antony and Cleopatra, Cymbeline, and The Tempest--from "official" Tudor and Stuart ideology, and to show how Shakespeare participates in the larger cultural project of finding historical legitimacy for Britain as a realm asserting its status as an empire.

LC Classification NumberPR2836 .J36 1997