The Shakespeare Handbook

Description

Literature and Culture Handbooks are an innovative series of guides to major periods, topics and authors in British and American literature and culture. Designed to provide a comprehensive, one-stop resource for literature students, each handbook provides the essential information and guidance needed from the beginning of a course through to developing more advanced knowledge and skills. Written in clear language by leading academics, they provide an indispensable introduction to key topics, including: * Introduction to authors, texts, historical and cultural contexts * Guides to key critics, concepts and topics * An overview of major critical approaches, changes in the canon and directions of current and future research * Case studies in reading literary and critical texts * Annotated bibliography (including websites), timeline, glossary of critical terms. The Shakespeare Handbook is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to Shakespeare and early modern literature.

Andrew Hiscock is Professor of English at Bangor University, UK. Stephen Longstaffe is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Cumbria, UK.

"Clear, wide-ranging, and full of variety. This volume provides an accessible, and stimulating introduction to the study of Shakespeare, and is particularly fascinating for its extensive coverage of useful detail, its carefully staged treatment of particular topics, and for its overview of the productive tensions that characterise this vibrant field of study." - Professor John Drakakis, Department of English Studies, University of Stirling, UK. As with the book as a whole, [chapter 7] could be used to organize a series of seminars: prompts for further discussion on each topic are included, with specific scenes suggested as cues for closer reading. -- The Year's Work in English Studies, Volume 90 A technical, skills-oriented manual... the Shakespeare Handbook offers students an invaluable critical glossary that is simultaneously theoretical and practical... [offers] undergraduate classroom-friendly snapshots of the history and methods of Shakespearean criticism. -- Studies in English Literature