Shakespeare and Presentist Theory (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781350030602)

Why do Shakespeare's texts resonate so powerfully for us in the 21st century, 400 years after he wrote and produced them? Why is he more popular today than ever before? Why is that popularity now occurring in a global context, rather than a Western context? Surely, the comprehensiveness of Shakespeare's ethical vision is one of the reasons. His skill as a playwright elicits reader and audience empathy for his characters and the dramatic situations in which he situates them. Yet the political, economic, and social practices, discourses, and events of our present moment, and our inevitable 'situatedness' in them, constitute another, untheorized part of the story.

Presentism views Shakespeare's texts as infinitely flexible, elastic entities. It empowers readers, directors, actors, and audience members alike as endlessly capable of opening up new meanings in Shakespeare's texts - meanings that are inflected both temporally, in different periods of time, and spatially, in different cultures around the globe. This new study defines, explains, and analyses the significance of presentism as a 21st century theoretical and critical approach to Shakespeare's texts.

Author: Evelyn Gajowski
ISBN-10: 1350030600
ISBN-13: 9781350030602
Publisher: Arden Shakespeare
Language: English
Published: 07/24/2025
Pages: 200
Format: Hardcover