We recently bought about forty new books for the library here at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. As always they are proudly displayed
in the 'new book' area of our Reading Room in the Shakespeare Centre.
Below are summaries of some of the new titles we’ve added to the library collection:
Shakespeare's Boys : a cultural history - Katie Knowles
Shakespeare's Boys: A Cultural History is the first extensive exploration of boyhood in Shakespeare's plays. It examines a range of characters from Shakespeare's comedies, histories and tragedies in their original early modern contexts and surveys their performance histories on stage and screen from the Restoration until the present day. Focusing on the status of aristocratic boys, the transition from boyhood to manhood and methods of education, it argues that the varied and complex portrayal of boys in Shakespeare reflects the ambiguous and transitional status of boyhood in early modern England, and that the portrayal of these on-stage boys has been a crucial, and sometimes defining, factor in the performance history of Shakespeare's plays.
Open-Air Shakespeare: under Australian skies - Rosemary
Gaby
Many people today first encounter staged Shakespeare in an open-air setting. In Australia, picnic Shakespeare seems particularly suited to the predilections of contemporary audiences and the plays have been performed in a remarkably varied range of sites. Shakespeare has been transported to gardens, parks, caves, mountains and beaches all over the country, in a place that, for Shakespeare and his contemporaries, was completely unknown. Why does the anomaly of performing Shakespeare in Australian space exert such a strong appeal? This book traces the history of open-air Shakespeare production in Australia from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day and suggests that the industry reflects important changes in the ways contemporary Australians relate to both their environment and to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare and the digital world: redefining scholarship and
practice edited by Christie Carsonand and Peter Kirwan.
This book offers seventeen new essays that assess the opportunities and pitfalls presented by the twenty-first century for the ongoing exploration of Shakespeare. Through contributions from a broad range of scholars and practitioners, including case studies from those working in the field, the collection engages with the impact of the digital revolution on Shakespeare studies. By assessing and mediating this sometimes controversial digital technology, the book is relevant to those interested in the digital humanities as well as to Shakespeare scholars and enthusiasts.
