Shakespeare and New Historicist Theory

Description

Over the past three decades, no critical movement has been more prominent in Shakespeare Studies than new historicism. And yet, it remains notoriously difficult to pin down, define and explain, let alone analyze. Shakespeare and New Historicist Theory provides a comprehensive scholarly analysis of new historicism as a development in Shakespeare studies while asking fundamental questions about its status as literary theory and its continued usefulness as a method of approaching Shakespeare's plays.

Neema Parvini is Lecturer in English at the University of Surrey. He is the author of Shakespeare's History Plays: Rethinking Historicism (2012) and Shakespeare and Contemporary Theory: New Historicism and Cultural Materialism (Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2012).

Neema Parvini's concise and polemical retelling of this once powerful mode of critical reading is a useful reminder of what was gained by New Historicism, what its limitations were, and what kind of legacy it has left ... Parvini writes directly, passionately, and engagingly ... Useful to anyone, students and scholars, in need of a quick reference guide to the gist of critique of New Historicism. * Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Reforme * Parvini's chapters provide a logical progression of well-researched information and analysis that begin with basic definitions, move through examinations of the differences between "old" and "new" historicism, and examine the effect of New Historicism and its legacy on theoretical discourse. All these points of discussion are useful, informative, and serve to paint a more complete picture of how New Historicism has influenced and changed the way we think, talk, and write about Shakespeare. * Renaissance Quarterly * Neema Parvini's concise and polemical retelling of this once powerful mode of critical reading is a useful reminder of what was gained by New Historicism, what its limitations were, and what kind of legacy it has left ... [The book] grapples succinctly with New Historicism's arguments across a range of theoretical and ideological interpretative practices ... Useful to anyone, students and scholars, in need of a quick reference guide to the gist of critique of New Historicism. * Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme *