Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre
Title | Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre PDF eBook |
Author | Susan Zimmerman |
Publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
Total Pages | 226 |
Release | 2019-08-08 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 0748680764 |
Within a theoretical framework that makes use of history, psychoanalysis and anthropology, The Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre explores the relationship of the public theatre to the question of what constituted the 'dead' in early modern English culture.Susan Zimmerman argues that concepts of the corpse as a semi-animate, generative and indeterminate entity were deeply rooted in medieval religious culture. Such concepts ran counter to early modern discourses that sought to harden categorical distinctions between body/spirit, animate/inanimate - in particular, the attacks of Reformists on the materiality of 'dead' idols, and the rationale of the new anatomy for publicly dissecting 'dead' bodies. Zimmerman contends that within this context, theatrical representations of the corpse or corpse/revenant - as seen here in the tragedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries - uniquely showcased the theatre's own ideological and performative agency. Features*Original in its conjunction of critical theory (Bataille, Kristeva, Lacan, Benjamin) with an historical account of the shifting status of the corpse in late medieval and early modern England.*The first study to demonstrate connections between the meanings attached to the material body in early modern Protestantism, the practice of anatomical dissection, and the English public theatre.*Strong market appeal to scholars and graduate students with interests in the theatre of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, early modern religion and science, and literary theory. *Relevant to advanced undergraduates taking widely taught courses in Shakespeare and in Renaissance drama.
The Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre
Title | The Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre PDF eBook |
Author | Susan Zimmerman |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | 214 |
Release | 2005 |
Genre | Dead in literature |
ISBN | 9780748679669 |
Within a theoretical framework that makes use of history, psychoanalysis and anthropology, The Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre explores the relationship of the public theatre to the question of what constituted the 'dead' in early modern English culture. Susan Zimmerman argues that concepts of the corpse as a semi-animate, generative and indeterminate entity were deeply rooted in medieval religious culture. Such concepts ran counter to early modern discourses that sought to harden categorical distinctions between body/spirit, animate/inanimate - in particular, the attacks of Reformists on the materiality of 'dead' idols, and the rationale of the new anatomy for publicly dissecting 'dead' bodies. Zimmerman contends that within this context, theatrical representations of the corpse or corpse/revenant - as seen here in the tragedies of Shakespeare and his contemporaries - uniquely showcased the theatre's own ideological and performative agency. Key Features Original in its conjunction of critical theory (Bataille, Kristeva, Lacan, Benjamin) with an historical account of the shifting status of the corpse in late medieval and early modern England. The first study to demonstrate connections between the meanings attached to the material body in early modern Protestantism, the practice of anatomical dissection, and the English public theatre. Strong market appeal to scholars and graduate students with interests in the theatre of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, early modern religion and science, and literary theory. Relevant to advanced undergraduates taking widely taught courses in Shakespeare and in Renaissance drama.
Early Modern Actors and Shakespeare's Theatre
Title | Early Modern Actors and Shakespeare's Theatre PDF eBook |
Author | Evelyn Tribble |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Total Pages | 240 |
Release | 2017-02-23 |
Genre | Drama |
ISBN | 1472576055 |
What skills did Shakespeare's actors bring to their craft? How do these skills differ from those of contemporary actors? Early Modern Actors and Shakespeare's Theatre: Thinking with the Body examines the 'toolkit' of the early modern player and suggests new readings of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries through the lens of their many skills. Theatre is an ephemeral medium. Little remains to us of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries: some printed texts, scattered documents and records, and a few scraps of description, praise, and detraction. Because most of what survives are printed playbooks, students of English theatre find it easy to forget that much of what happened on the early modern stage took place within the gaps of written language: the implicit or explicit calls for fights, dances, military formations, feats of physical skill, song, and clowning. Theatre historians and textual editors have often ignored or denigrated such moments, seeing them merely as extraneous amusements or signs that the text has been 'corrupted' by actors. This book argues that recapturing a positive account of the skills and expertise of the early modern players will result in a more capacious understanding of the nature of theatricality in the period.
Performances of Mourning in Shakespearean Theatre and Early Modern Culture
Title | Performances of Mourning in Shakespearean Theatre and Early Modern Culture PDF eBook |
Author | T. Döring |
Publisher | Springer |
Total Pages | 223 |
Release | 2006-07-11 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 0230627404 |
This study takes a look at a controversial question: what do the acts and shows of grief performed in early modern drama tell us about the religious culture of the world in which they were historically staged? Drawing on performance studies, it provides detailed readings of play texts to explore the politics, pathologies and parodies of mourning.
Entertaining Uncertainty in the Early Modern Theater
Title | Entertaining Uncertainty in the Early Modern Theater PDF eBook |
Author | Lauren Robertson |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 269 |
Release | 2022-12-31 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 100922512X |
Lauren Robertson's original study shows that the theater of Shakespeare and his contemporaries responded to the crises of knowledge that roiled through early modern England by rendering them spectacular. Revealing the radical, exciting instability of the early modern theater's representational practices, Robertson uncovers the uncertainty that went to the heart of playgoing experience in this period. Doubt was not merely the purview of Hamlet and other onstage characters, but was in fact constitutive of spectators' imaginative participation in performance. Within a culture in the midst of extreme epistemological upheaval, the commercial theater licensed spectators' suspension among opposed possibilities, transforming dubiety itself into exuberantly enjoyable, spectacular show. Robertson shows that the playhouse was a site for the entertainment of uncertainty in a double sense: its pleasures made the very trial of unknowing possible.
Early Modern Actors and Shakespeare's Theatre
Title | Early Modern Actors and Shakespeare's Theatre PDF eBook |
Author | Evelyn B. Tribble |
Publisher | |
Total Pages | |
Release | 2017 |
Genre | Acting |
ISBN | 9781472576064 |
Rethinking the Mind-Body Relationship in Early Modern Literature, Philosophy, and Medicine
Title | Rethinking the Mind-Body Relationship in Early Modern Literature, Philosophy, and Medicine PDF eBook |
Author | Charis Charalampous |
Publisher | Routledge |
Total Pages | 180 |
Release | 2015-08-20 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1317584201 |
This book explores a neglected feature of intellectual history and literature in the early modern period: the ways in which the body was theorized and represented as an intelligent cognitive agent, with desires, appetites, and understandings independent of the mind. It considers the works of early modern physicians, thinkers, and literary writers who explored the phenomenon of the independent and intelligent body. Charalampous rethinks the origin of dualism that is commonly associated with Descartes, uncovering hitherto unknown lines of reception regarding a form of dualism that understands the body as capable of performing complicated forms of cognition independently of the mind. The study examines the consequences of this way of thinking about the body for contemporary philosophy, theology, and medicine, opening up new vistas of thought against which to reassess perceptions of what literature can be thought and felt to do. Sifting and assessing this evidence sheds new light on a range of historical and literary issues relating to the treatment, perception, and representation of the human body. This book examines the notion of the thinking body across a wide range of genres, topics, and authors, including Montaigne’s Essays, Spenser’s allegorical poetry, Donne’s metaphysical poetry, tragic dramaturgy, Shakespeare, and Milton’s epic poetry and shorter poems. It will be essential for those studying early modern literature, cognition, and the body.