In the context of classical and Renaissance theories of imitation, or mimesis, Shakespeare's Imitations discusses features of four plays by Shakespeare that imitate materials outside but especially within the same plays. The book argues that an imitation does not merely repeat its model, it completes and deciphers it: the model, that is, can begin to be understood fully only after its imitation is apprehended as an interpretation of it.
Providing a provocative and original perspective on Shakespeare, Peter Holbrook argues that Shakespeare is an author friendly to such essentially modern and unruly notions as individuality, freedom, self-realization and authenticity. These expressive values vivify Shakespeare's own writing;
Portions of several chapters were presented, formally and informally, at meetings of the Shakespeare Association of America, the International Conference at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham, the Folger Shakespeare Library Teaching Shakespeare Institute, and to various audiences at the following institutions: Nazareth College, the Ohio State University, the University of Rochester, the University of North Carolina atGreensboro, St. LawrenceUniversity, theUniversity ofCalifornia at Berkeley, the University of Alabama. I am indebted to many who on those occasions responded with criticism, advice, suggestions, doubts, and kindness.
Shakespeare's Late Work is a detailed reading of the plays written at the end of Shakespeare's career, centring on Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. Unlike many previous studies it considers all the late work, including Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, the revised Folio version of King Lear, and even what can be ascertained about the lost Cardenio. From this broadened canon emerge signs of a distinct identity for the late work. Lyne explores how Shakespeare sets great store in grand principles - faith in God, love of family, reverence for monarchs, and belief in theatrical representations of truth.
Shakespeare's plays are stuffed with letters - 111 appear on stage in all but five of his dramas. But for modern actors, directors, and critics they are frequently an awkward embarrassment. Alan Stewart shows how and why Shakespeare put letters on stage in virtually all of his plays. By reconstructing the very different uses to which letters were put in Shakespeare's time, and recapturing what it meant to write, send, receive, read, and archive a letter, it throws new light on some of his most familiar dramas
