A New Mimesis; Shakespeare and the Representation of Reality

by A. D. Nuttall; With a new preface by the author

• ISBN13: 9780300118650
• ISBN10: 0300118651
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-04-28
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

In pursuit of a powerful, common-sense argument about realism, renowned scholar A. D. Nuttall discusses English eighteenth-century and French neo-classical conceptions of realism, and considersJulius Caesar,Coriolanus,The Merchant of Venice,Othello, and both parts ofKing Henry IVas a prolonged feat of mimesis, with particular emphasis on Shakespeare's perception of society and culture as subject to historical change. Shakespeare is chosen as the great example of realism because he addresses not only the stable characteristics but also the flux of things, and he is thus seen as a perceiver of that flux and not a mere specimen. An acknowledged classic of literary studies,A New Mimesisis reissued here with a new preface by the author.

Author Biography

A. D. Nuttall is professor of English at Oxford University and the author of numerous books, including Shakespeare the Thinker, published by Yale University Press, A Common Sky: Philosophy and the Literary Imagination, and Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure?

Table of Contents

Preface to the Yale Edition	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Shaking the concepts
Contents	p. 1
Relationships, not things: verum factum	p. 8
Dissolving man: the priority of language to meaning	p. 22
The dissolution of mimesis
The 'mask of realism'	p. 51
Neoclassical verisimilitude: adjectival and adverbial realism	p. 56
Eighteenth-century perceptions of Shakespeare	p. 66
Soft formalism	p. 71
The two languages of criticism	p. 80
Shakespeare's imitation of the world
Julius Caesar and Coriolanus	p. 99
The Merchant of Venice and Othello	p. 120
Henry IV: Prince Hal and Falstaff	p. 143
The new mimesis
The example of Shakespeare	p. 163
Ockham's beard: a note on latency	p. 173
Conclusion	p. 181
Notes	p. 194
Index	p. 205
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