Research Catalog

Title

Shakespeare and early modern religion / edited by David Loewenstein and Michael Witmore.

Publication

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Supplementary Content

Cover image

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Loewenstein, David
• Witmore, Michael

Description

xi, 317 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Shakespeare and Early Modern Religion contains contributions from both literary scholars and historians of religion; as such, it is a cross-disciplinary volume that illuminates Shakespeare's plays and the early modern religious beliefs that circulated in Shakespeare's England. Most notably, this volume explores Shakespeare's creative engagement with early modern religious culture, but it does so without assuming that Shakespeare can himself be aligned with any specific doctrinal beliefs, religious group, or confession. The essays in this book thus eschew firm or reductive assertions about Shakespeare's personal religious convictions. Instead, contributors focus on his imaginative recasting of different currents of early modern religious culture and beliefs in their great variety, an array of perspectives that was at once contradictory, competing, and deeply contested"--

Subjects

• England
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
• Cultural pluralism in literature
• England > Religion > 16th century
• Religious tolerance in literature
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Religion
• LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
• Religion in literature
• England > Religion > 17th century
• Religion and drama
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• 1500 - 1699
• Religion
• Drama > Religious aspects

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• "Written by an international team of literary scholars and historians, this collaborative volume illuminates the diversity of early modern religious beliefs and practices in Shakespeare's England, and considers how religious culture is imaginatively reanimated in Shakespeare's plays. Fourteen new essays explore the creative ways Shakespeare engaged with the multi-faceted dimensions of Protestantism, Catholicism, non-Christian religions including Judaism and Islam, and secular perspectives, considering plays such as Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King John, King Lear, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale. The collection is of great interest to readers of Shakespeare studies, early modern literature, religious studies, and early modern history"-- Provided by publisher.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction / David Loewenstein and Michael Witmore -- 1. The debate about Shakespeare and religion / David Bevington -- 2. Choosing sides and talking religion in Shakespeare's England / Peter Marshall -- 3. Experiencing religion in London: diversity and choice in Shakespeare's metropolis / Felicity Heal -- 4. Delusion in a Midsummer Night's Dream / Alison Shell -- 5. The siege of Jerusalem and subversive rhetoric in King John / Beatrice Groves -- 6. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the search for a usable (Christian?) past / Peter Lake -- 7. Lucretius, Calvin, and natural law in Measure for Measure Adrian Streete -- 8. Agnostic Shakespeare?: the Godless world of King Lear / David Loewenstein -- 9. 'Another Golgotha' / Ewan Fernie -- 10. Shakespeare and wisdom literature / Michael Witmore -- 11. Awakening faith in The Winter's Tale / Richard McCoy -- 12. Hamlet, Henry VIII, and the question of religion: a post-secular perspective Paul Stevens -- 13. Converting Henry: truth, history, and historical faith in Henry VIII / Michael Davies -- 14. Shakespeare's non-Christian religions / Matthew Dimmock -- Afterword / Brian Cummings.

Call Number

JFE 15-2407

ISBN

• 9781107026612 (hardback)
• 110702661X (hardback)

LCCN

2014044212

OCLC

887855894

Title

Shakespeare and early modern religion / edited by David Loewenstein and Michael Witmore.

Publisher

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Connect to:

Cover image

Chronological Term

1500 - 1699

Added Author

Loewenstein, David, editor.

Witmore, Michael, editor.

Research Call Number

JFE 15-2407