Renaissance Drama and Contemporary Literary Theory

by Mousley, Andy

• ISBN13: 9780312231743
• ISBN10: 0312231741
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-07
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Unlike other introductions to literary theory, this distinctive book offers a sustained discussion of a specific period of English literature. Avoiding the danger of employing theories as templates, the author uses Renaissance drama and contemporary theory to question and illuminate each other. It provides a comprehensive account of key modern literary theories and presents detailed applications of them to a wide range of Renaissance plays. It also offers a new way of thinking about the relationship of modern literary theory to its main predecessor, humanism. Finally, it writes a history, which Renaissance drama and modern theory are seen as sharing, of the antagonisms and attempted reconciliations between signs and psyche, objects and subjects, history and self, and language and the human.

Author Biography

Andy Mousley is Senior Lecturer in English at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Introduction	1	(12)
Semiotics
Tamburlaine; The Knight of the Burning Pestle; Othello	13	(29)
Structuralism
King Lear; The Duchess of Malfi; Hamlet; The Spanish Tragedy	42	(32)
Poststructuralism
A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hamlet; The Alchemist	74	(31)
Psychoanalysis
Bartholmew Fair; 'Tis Pity She's a Whore	105	(27)
Historicism
The White Devil; As You Like It; Henry V	132	(29)
Feminism
The Duchess of Malfi; The Roaring Girl	161	(31)
Marxism
The Shoemakers' Holiday; Macbeth	192	(24)
Conclusion	216	(3)
Notes	219	(13)
Select Bibliography	232	(6)
Index	238