In the first full length study to relate Shakespeare's Roman works to a longer history of the city of Rome, author Graham Holderness reads Shakespeare's Roman works"Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus"via a double perspective, the ancient and the modern. He argues that for Shakespeare, Rome was not simply the republic and empire of antiquity, but a contemporary place that possessed its own meanings, retained its own legacies from the past, and was in the process of generating new meanings. Holderness presents a new take on the conflicts fought out in the plays, proposing that they were not just ancient Roman conflicts with relevance for sixteenth-century England, but were also shaped in early modern encounters with Rome as a place of fallen greatness and cultural revival, of growing ecclesiastical power, and of consolidating religious authority. He explains the ambivalence towards Rome that speaks throughout the Roman works, less in terms of the conflicts between ancient writers over the grounds of republican and imperial visions, and more in terms of St Augustine's polarization of Rome into earthly and heavenly cities, of sixteenth-century Rome's cultural and aesthetic character, and of the tense relationship for English Catholics between Protestant and papal authority. Finally the book extends the perspective to include the range of modern meanings attributed to Rome, and shows how these enter into critical readings, theatrical performances and screen adaptations of Shakespeare's Roman works.
| ISBN: | 9781409410157 |
| Publication date: | 1st January 2021 |
| Author: | Graham Holderness |
| Publisher: | Routledge an imprint of Taylor and Francis |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 200 pages |
| Series: | Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies Series |
| Genres: |
Classic and pre-20th century plays Literary studies: general History and Archaeology |
In the first full length study to relate Shakespeare's Roman works to a longer history of the city of Rome, author Graham Holderness reads Shakespeare's Roman works"Titus Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus"via a double perspective, the ancient and the modern. He argues that for Shakespeare, Rome was not simply the republic and empire of antiquity, but a contemporary place that possessed its own meanings, retained its own legacies from the past, and was in the process of generating new meanings. Holderness presents a new take on the conflicts fought out in the plays, proposing that they were not just ancient Roman conflicts with relevance for sixteenth-century England, but were also shaped in early modern encounters with Rome as a place of fallen greatness and cultural revival, of growing ecclesiastical power, and of consolidating religious authority. He explains the ambivalence towards Rome that speaks throughout the Roman works, less in terms of the conflicts between ancient writers over the grounds of republican and imperial visions, and more in terms of St Augustine's polarization of Rome into earthly and heavenly cities, of sixteenth-century Rome's cultural and aesthetic character, and of the tense relationship for English Catholics between Protestant and papal authority. Finally the book extends the perspective to include the range of modern meanings attributed to Rome, and shows how these enter into critical readings, theatrical performances and screen adaptations of Shakespeare's Roman works.
Shakespeare and Rome features in the following genres: Classic and pre-20th century plays, Literary studies: general, History and Archaeology
Shakespeare and Rome is available in Hardback
Shakespeare and Rome was written by Graham Holderness and published by Routledge an imprint of Taylor and Francis
Shakespeare and Rome has 200 pages
Yes it is part of Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies Series series