About the Book
This volume offers a wealth of critical analysis, supported with ample historical and bibliographical information about one of Shakespeare's most enduringly popular and globally influential plays. Its eighteen new chapters represent a broad spectrum of current scholarly and interpretive approaches, from historicist criticism to performance theory to cultural studies. A substantial section addresses early modern themes, with attention to the protagonists and the discourses of politics, class, gender, the emotions, and the economy, along with discussions of significant 'minor' characters and less commonly examined textual passages. Further chapters scrutinize Macbeth's performance, adaptation and transformation across several media--stage, film, text, and hypertext--in cultural settings ranging from early nineteenth-century England to late twentieth-century China. The editor's extensive introduction surveys critical, theatrical, and cinematic interpretations from the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first, while advancing a synthetic argument to explain the shifting relationship between two conflicting strains in the tragedy's reception.
Written to a level that will be both accessible to advanced undergraduates and, at the same time, useful to post-graduates and specialists in the field, this book will greatly enhance any study of Macbeth. Contributors: Rebecca Lemon, Jonathan Baldo, Rebecca Ann Bach, Julie Barmazel, Abraham Stoll, Lois Feuer, Stephen Deng, Lisa Tomaszewski, Lynne Bruckner, Michael David Fox, James Wells, Laura Engel, Stephen Buhler, Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, Kim Fedderson and J. Michael Richardson, Bruno Lessard, Pamela Mason.
Table of Contents:
1. Nick Moschovakis, "Introduction: Dualistic Macbeth? Problematic Macbeth?" 2. Rebecca Lemon, "Sovereignty and Treason in Macbeth" 3. Jonathan Baldo, "‘A rooted sorrow’: Scotland’s Unusable Past" 4. Rebecca Ann Bach, "The ‘Peerless’ Macbeth: Friendship and Family in Macbeth" 5. Julie Barmazel, "The servant to defect: Macbeth, Impotence, and the Body Politic" 6. Abraham Stoll, "Macbeth’s Equivocal Conscience" 7. Lois Feuer, "Hired For Mischief: The Masterless Man in Macbeth" 8. Stephen Deng, "Healing Angels and ‘Golden Blood’: Money and Mystical Kingship in Macbeth" 9. Lisa Tomaszewski, "‘Throw physic to the dogs!’: Moral Physicians and Medical Malpractice in Macbeth" 10. Lynne Bruckner, "‘Let Grief Convert to Anger’: Authority and Affect in Macbeth" 11. Michael David Fox, "Like a Poor Player: Audience Emotional Response, Nonrepresentational Performance, and the Staging of Suffering In Macbeth" 12. James Wells, "‘To be thus is nothing’: Macbeth and the Trials of Dramatic Identity" 13. Laura Engel, "The Personating of Queens: Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons, and the Creation of Female Celebrity in the Late Eighteenth Century" 14. Stephen Buhler, "Politicizing Macbeth on U.S. Stages: Garson’s MacBird! and Greenland’s Jungle Rot" 15. Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, "Macbeth in Chinese Opera" 16. Kim Fedderson and J. Michael Richardson, "Macbeth: Recent Migrations of the Cinematic Brand" 17. Bruno Lessard, "Hypermedia Macbeth: Cognition and Performance" 18. Pamela Mason, "Sunshine in Macbeth"
About the Author :
Nick Moschovakis has published essays in academic and cultural journals including Shakespeare Quarterly, Milton Quarterly, and College Literature. He has taught courses on Shakespeare and early modern English literature at The University of the South, George Washington University, Reed College, and elsewhere.
Review :
'a consistently fine collection of essays...Recommended.'- Choice, July 2009
