Shakespeare and Lost Plays: Reimagining Drama in Early Modern England
Cambridge University Press, 3/25/2021
EAN 9781108843263, ISBN10: 1108843263
Hardcover, 234 pages, 23.4 x 19.6 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Shakespeare and Lost Plays returns Shakespeare's dramatic work to its most immediate and (arguably) pivotal context; by situating it alongside the hundreds of plays known to Shakespeare's original audiences, but lost to us. David McInnis reassesses the value of lost plays in relation to both the companies that originally performed them, and to contemporary scholars of early modern drama. This innovative study revisits key moments in Shakespeare's career and the development of his company and, by prioritising the immense volume of information we now possess about lost plays, provides a richer, more accurate picture of dramatic activity than has hitherto been possible. By considering a variety of ways to grapple with the problem of lost, imperceptible, or ignored texts, this volume presents a methodology for working with lacunae in archival evidence and the distorting effect of Shakespeare-centric narratives, thus reinterpreting our perception of the field of early modern drama.
Introduction
1. Charting the landscape of loss
2. Early Shakespeare
1594-98
3. Shakespeare at the turn of the century, 1599-1603
4. Courting controversy
Shakespeare and the king's men, 1604-08
5. Late Shakespeare
1609-13
6. Loose canons
the lost Shakespeare apocrypha
Conclusion.