Conceptions of Shakespeare

Harbage, Alfred

ISBN 10: 0674803957 / ISBN 13: 9780674803954

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Usa, 1972

About this Item

As new. No notes, names or markings. No torn or folded pages. No damage to dust jacket. For more information on condition. Please view all images. Examines The Impact Of Shakespeare And His Works On Biographers, Critics, Actors, Directors, Theatregoers, And Moral Philosophers. The Author Distinguishes Between What Is Known About Shakespeare And What Is Said About Him, Exploring The Misconceptions Of Shakespeare's Modern Interpreters. His Judgments Are Gentle, But Often Devastating. This Book Entertains As It Corrects, Supplying All Those Professionals And Amateurs Interested In The Plays A Guide To The Difference Between Shakespeare And The Centuries Of Interpretations That Now Lie Upon Him.

Seller Inventory # 003870

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Conceptions of Shakespeare
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Usa
• Publication Date: 1972
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674803957
• ISBN 13: 9780674803954
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Weight: 700 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

In the title essay of this volume, Harbage admonishes the critics and directors whose modern--and often perverse--presentations of Shakespeare attempt to locate him in the theatre of the absurd. According to the author, such critics are using the actions of the plays but ignoring the words; his concern is that the plays be read and responded to as whole works of art.

Thus the groundwork is laid for this outstanding collection of essays and lectures--most of them previously presented in various publications over the past two or three decades and all characterized by Harbage's urbanity, wit, and good sense. Devoted to the debate of critical issues involving Shakespeare and his fellow dramatists, the first eight essays, described by the author as "pleas for sanity," include such pieces as "Marlowe Disinterred," prompted by a book nominating Marlowe as the author of Shakespeare's plays; "Cosmic Card Game," a parody of the New Criticism; and "Shakespeare and the Professions," where one section details Shakespeare's opinion of the various professions as they are represented by characters in the plays--parsons, teachers, lawyers, and doctors.

The last part of the book is composed of four essays relating to the history of the Elizabethan drama and raising provocative questions of chronology and authorship. These articles likewise deal with structural problems and suggest new directions for research.