Synopses & Reviews
A landmark collection of essays from leading international scholars offering a variety of perspectives on Othello. In recent years, work on Othello has engaged every scholarly interest: textual studies, historicism, feminism, gender and sexuality studies, critical race studies, post-colonial studies, reception studies, and more.
The essays in this volume are based in scrupulous close reading, are historically informed, are theoretically sophisticated, taking Othello in new directions and giving students a wide range of routes into the play for their continung study.
Synopsis
Othello has a long history of provoking profound emotion in its audiences and readers. This 'freeze frame' volume showcases current debates and ideas about the play's provocative effects. Each chapter has been carefully selected for its originality and relevance to the needs of students, teachers, and researchers. Key issues and themes include:
- Gender, Love, and Desire
- Race, Ethnicity, and Difference
- Social Relations, Status, and Ambition
- Tragedy, Comedy, and Parody
- Language, Expression, and Characterization
All the essays offer new perspectives and combine to give readers an up-to-date understanding of what's exciting and challenging about Othello. The approach based on an individual play, unlike that of topic-based series, reflects how Shakespeare is most commonly studied and taught.
About the Author
Lena Cowen Orlin is Professor of English at Georgetown University, USA.
Table of Contents
Introduction - Lena Cowen Orlin (Georgetown University, USA)
1. Two Faced: the Problem of Othello's Visage - Ambereen Dadabhoy (Harvey Mudd College, USA)
2. Eloquent Barbarians: on the Critical Potential of Passionate Character - Lynn Enterline;
3. Audience-Actor Boundaries in Othello - Laurie E. Maguire (University of Oxford, UK)
4. "Speak[ing] Parrot" in Othello: Recontextualizing Black Speech in the Global Renaissance
- Robert Hornback (Oglethorpe University, USA)
5. Secrets and Lies - Lois Potter (University of Delaware, USA)
6. Shakespeare's Nobody - Colleen Ruth Rosenfeld (Pomona College, USA)
7. Lucretius and Consummation in Othello - David Schalkwyk (Gallatin School of Individualized Study, USA)
8. Making Ambition Virtue? James Siemon (Washington University, USA)
9. Othello's Black Handkerchief - Ian Smith (Lafayette College, USA)
10. Double Diction and Othello's Dual Identity - Robert N. Watson (UCLA, USA)
Bibliography
Index