Free Will

Art and power on Shakespeare's stage

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British, American
Cover of the book Free Will by Richard Wilson, Manchester University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Richard Wilson ISBN: 9781526111043
Publisher: Manchester University Press Publication: May 16, 2016
Imprint: Manchester University Press Language: English
Author: Richard Wilson
ISBN: 9781526111043
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Publication: May 16, 2016
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Language: English

Free Will: Art and power on Shakespeare’s stage is a study of theatre and sovereignty that situates Shakespeare’s plays in the contraflow between two absolutisms of early modern England: the aesthetic and the political. Starting from the dramatist’s cringing relations with his princely patrons, Richard Wilson considers the ways in which this ‘bending author’ identifies freedom in failure and power in weakness by staging the endgames of a sovereignty that begs to be set free from itself. The arc of Shakespeare’s career becomes in this comprehensive new interpretation a sustained resistance to both the institutions of sacred kingship and literary autonomy that were emerging in his time. In a sequence of close material readings, Free Will shows how the plays instead turn command performances into celebrations of an art without sovereignty, which might ‘give delight’ but ‘hurt not’, and ‘leave not a rack behind’. Free Will is a profound rereading of Shakespeare, art and power that will contribute to thinking not only about the plays, but also about aesthetics, modernity, sovereignty and violence.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Free Will: Art and power on Shakespeare’s stage is a study of theatre and sovereignty that situates Shakespeare’s plays in the contraflow between two absolutisms of early modern England: the aesthetic and the political. Starting from the dramatist’s cringing relations with his princely patrons, Richard Wilson considers the ways in which this ‘bending author’ identifies freedom in failure and power in weakness by staging the endgames of a sovereignty that begs to be set free from itself. The arc of Shakespeare’s career becomes in this comprehensive new interpretation a sustained resistance to both the institutions of sacred kingship and literary autonomy that were emerging in his time. In a sequence of close material readings, Free Will shows how the plays instead turn command performances into celebrations of an art without sovereignty, which might ‘give delight’ but ‘hurt not’, and ‘leave not a rack behind’. Free Will is a profound rereading of Shakespeare, art and power that will contribute to thinking not only about the plays, but also about aesthetics, modernity, sovereignty and violence.

More books from Manchester University Press

Cover of the book Representing ethnicity in contemporary French visual culture by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Thomas Hood and nineteenth-century poetry by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Mobilising Classics by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Ignorance by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Russian-American relations in the post-Cold War world by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Domestic life and domestic tragedy in early modern England by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Flesh and Spirit by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Democracy in Crisis by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Postcolonial contraventions by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book TV antiquity by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Tristana by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book The radicalism of ethnomethodology by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Adapting philosophy by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Corporate and white-collar crime in Ireland by Richard Wilson
Cover of the book Protest and the politics of space and place, 1789–1848 by Richard Wilson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy