What Was Shakespeare?: Renaissance Plays and Changing Critical Practice

By Edward Pechter

What was Shakespeare? For Edward Pechter, the question does not concern the time-worn mystery of identity--whether the Bard was the glover's son from Stratford or the Earl of Oxford or any of the other pretenders. Instead, Pechter examines how our talk about the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has changed since the 1960s. Viewing today's critical scene with affectionate humor and dauntless penetration, Pechter assesses the problems, the disagreements, the disruptions, and the continuities that have accompanied the reign of poststructuralism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801482291
• ISBN13: 9780801482298
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Enjoying the chaos of literature

Caution: Not to be read by graduate students or untenured faculty who need to stay wedded to one particular ideology in the turf wars of literary criticism. (But a solace to those who enjoy maintaining their senses of humor about those who contend they are *the objective thinkers*.)Pechter stays, if not *above* then at least remarkably non-attached to the ideological wars into which he provides insights. For the informed outsider, his wit and insight make for an enjoyable safari into the minds (and even emotions) of those professionally involved in lit crit. and theory. What a delight to see gibes with affection instead of venom, as when Pechter refers to Richard Levin as enjoying a "richly deserved and entirely honorable reputation for stirring up trouble..." or remarks on the irony of how at the end of an acrimonious conference, *everyone* seems to express a sentiment similar to Gayle Greene's "If you really want to know, I feel beset from all sides."Pechter's final analysis is upbeat about the possibility of actual light being shed during the heat of Theory's ideology wars. Unfortunately, the very absence of personal attacks and diatribes may leave his insights largely unread by the warring factions. For students who afford to entertain a broader perspective on Critical Practice (not feeling pressed to join a 'side' in order to succeed at the academe) Pechter offers a breath of fresh (though not sanitized) air. Enjoy!