Overview
Graham Holderness provides a new treatment of Shakespeare's historical dramas by reviewing past sources in light of modern theory, thus redefining the world about which Shakespeare wrote. He begins with the social and cultural context in which these "historical" plays of chivalric antiquity and masculine virtue were written and suggests that the world depicted in the plays represented a male-dominated aristocracy preoccupied with war and violence. The book reveals antiquity's contradictions in all their glamour and glory, their absurdities and arrogance, and provides alternative contexts for reading Shakespeare's history plays.
Synopsis
Graham Holderness provides a new treatment of Shakespeare's historical dramas by reviewing past sources in light of modern theory, thus redefining the world about which Shakespeare wrote. He begins with the social and cultural context in which these "historical" plays of chivalric antiquity and masculine virtue were written and suggests that the world depicted in the plays represented a male-dominated aristocracy preoccupied with war and violence. The book reveals antiquity's contradictions in all their glamour and glory, their absurdities and arrogance, and provides alternative contexts for reading Shakespeare's history plays.
Library Journal
A mix of history and modern theory is applied to a close examination of Hamlet; Richard III; Henry VI, Part One; Henry V; Henry IV; and Richard II. Holderness's chief arguments focus on the nature and constructed order of the works, the juxtaposition of Shakespeare's own cultural setting and that of the histories, the sexual politics at play in Elizabethan England, and the values pulling and pushing at the texts. It is at times a heady mix of ideas, but as a prolific author of many works on Shakespeare and as the dean of humanities, languages, and education at the University of Hertfordshire, England, Holderness is more than qualified to undertake the exploration. The detailed readings offer much for students to consider; the mix of history and culture and the examination of how the two pull at each other make this work recommended for all academic libraries.--Neal Wyatt, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., Richmond, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.