Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
With Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen, Kiernan displays how profoundly sensitive Shakespeare was to the massive social and political upheavals of his age. During the playwright s lifetime, he saw the first challenges to monarchical rule, as well as serious transformations in England s social hierarchy. Shakespeare witnessed and capitalized on these events, using major social changes, such as rebellious new female roles, prominently in his comedies, which feature identity confusion, gender bending, and cross-dressing. His historical plays, similarly, reflect the demise of feudal allegiances and the development of the modern state. By placing these plays within the context of England s emerging modernity, Kiernan brilliantly upends our conventional perceptions of Shakespeare s work.
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Synopsis
'This book rests on a lifetime's thinking about history. It helps us see Shakespeare in "a more realistic light".'
Times Literary Supplement
Although Shakespeare is rightly celebrated for the continued relevancy of his plays and poetry today, we too often lose sight of the wider historical context which shaped his work. In Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen, Victor Kiernan shows that Shakespeare was profoundly sensitive to the great social and political upheavals of his age. Shakespeare's life coincided with the first challenges to the institution of monarchy, as well as far-reaching transformations in the social hierarchy.
By placing the plays within this context of an emerging modernity, Kiernan upends our perception of Shakespeare's writings. He shows that these social transformations, and especially the changing roles of women, are crucial to our understanding of the Comedies, in which the confusion of identity, disguise, and cross-dressing play a central role, while the Histories similarly reflect the demise of feudal allegiances and the development of the modern state.
Featuring a new introduction by Michael Wood, Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen provides a rich resource for both students of literature and for the general reader looking for new insight into the life of our greatest dramatist.
About the Author
Victor Kiernan (1913-2009) was one of Britain’s most distinguished historians and the author of The Lords of Human Kind, European Empires from Conquest to Collapse, and Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen, among many others.