Shakespeares America

Michael Bristol explores the interaction between Shakespeare and American culture, and argues that the plays constitute a priamry theme of much American culture criticism. This book should be of interest to students and lecturers in English literature and cultural studies.

This is a learned book about the relationship between Shakespeare and American political culture. Bristol analyzes how Shakespeare came to occupy a place of such massive authority in American culture--the plays have been understood to validate a political economy based on individulistic social ideas--and how the institutional ethos, embodied in the work of textual scholars, editors, curators, and libraries, perpetuates it. The second part of the book analyzes the relationship between 20th-century Shakespearean criticism and ideology, which reveals a diaog between neo-conservatism and advanced liberalism. Aimed primarily at scholars; the overabundance of technical jargon will discourage the general reader.
- Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.