Article
Literature, British Isles
Masayo Hasegawa
Editorial Material
Literary Theory & Criticism
Mark Nixon, Dirk Van Hulle
JOURNAL OF BECKETT STUDIES
(2023)
Article
Literature, British Isles
Erika Mary Boeckeler
Summary: This case study examines the representation of the Dionysus ornament in the 1623 Shakespearean folio, analyzing its reinterpretation within the context of the folio and its associated works. The study explores the use of the ornament in other titles published by the Jaggard Press, revealing its semiotic potential in different contexts. It also discusses the significance of the ornament's presence in Crooke's Mikrokosmographia and its relation to the overall rhetorical strategy of the folio.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Amy Lidster
Summary: This article compares Shakespeare's First Folio with other play collections from the same period, highlighting the influence of the strategies of selection and presentation on how we engage with the texts. It identifies four practices - categorising, fixing, authorising, and fetishizing - and explores how each strategy is employed in different collections. The article concludes that while Shakespeare's Folio has had a significant impact on our understanding of his plays, it cannot be considered as a benchmark for play collections.
News Item
Literature, British Isles
Lauren Bruce
Article
Literature, British Isles
Jessica Lewis
Summary: This article examines the influence of Charlotte Bronte's portrayal of Anne Bronte in the 1850 'Biographical notice of Ellis and Acton Bell'. It argues that Anne's enduring image as meek and moralistic is a deliberate curation by Charlotte, and explores the impact of this image on Anne's literary legacy.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Julia Snyckers, Jeanne Ellis
Summary: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall reveals the gendered violence in the Victorian patriarchal socio-legal system, making it a pioneering feminist critique. The novel's influence continues in The Woman Who Ran, a contemporary domestic noir thriller, which exposes the persisting crisis of domestic violence and sexism in professional spheres. This demonstrates the enduring relevance of Anne Bronte's writing for feminist issues in the twenty-first century.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Philippa Janu
Summary: This article examines the Victorian governess's journey in nineteenth-century novels, which is often associated with the development narrative of the Bildungsroman. However, it argues that the demands of instruction and surveillance, as well as the conflicting expectations of authority and submission, hinder her growth and that of her students. Through an analysis of Anne Bronte's portrayal of teaching in her 1847 novel Agnes Grey, the article suggests that the novel challenges the notion that knowledge solely resides in the text or the teacher, demanding critical engagement from the reader. Additionally, it suggests that the Bildungsroman's characteristic focus on the governess's development can also be found in the marriage plot.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Ciara Glasscott
Summary: This article examines Anne Bronte's engagement with the critical debates on the political and aesthetic conceptions of childhood, showcasing her complex understanding of the topic and her conflicted identification with the Romantic aesthetic of childhood.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Sara L. Pearson
Summary: Various digital and Internet resources have shed light on Anne Bronte as a hymn-writer, revealing the wide reach and impact of her hymns. Her hymns have been widely used by different religious groups and have provided solace and inspiration to people of all ages and circumstances. This article aims to provide an overview of the afterlife of Anne Bronte's hymns and encourages further exploration of this fascinating topic.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Callan Davies
Summary: This article explores how the art and architecture of the New Palace of Westminster (home to the UK's Houses of Parliament) evoke a theatrical experience underpinned by 'Shakespearean' aesthetics. Over a series of artistic commissions from the 1840s to the 1920s, artists used Shakespeare to visualize and theatricalize political and artistic aims, projecting a unified sense of national history and contemporary aesthetic taste. The article provides an interdisciplinary analysis of Shakespeare's role in British identity expressions during a major period of imperial activity and at the seat of parliamentary power.
Book Review
Literature, British Isles
Sarah Powell
Article
Literature, British Isles
Joshua R. R. Held
Summary: This essay aims to show that certain aspects of the Folio have gained more respect over the past four centuries, in order to protect it from changing opinions. By analyzing the editorial handling of difficult sections in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the essay highlights the increased esteem for the Folio's reflection of early performance. It also discusses the transformation of the Folio from being dismissed as corrupted theatrical documents in the 18th century to valuable evidence of stage practice in the 19th century and beyond. The essay's original contribution is its focus on the ease with which editors constructed hybrid editorial texts, moving seamlessly from one text to another. At present, the Folio remains a powerful force due to ongoing debates about its performability and overall validity, rather than just the endorsement of a series of editors.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Michela Compagnoni
Summary: Caliban's name, which could possibly come from the Latin word "chalybs," meaning "steel," reflects his uncertain and complex nature. This etymology connects with the alchemical imagery in The Tempest and suggests a new role for Caliban as the imperfect and discarded element in Prospero's alchemical project. While much attention has been given to Prospero and Ariel, Caliban's role within the play's alchemical architecture deserves more critical analysis.
Article
Literature, British Isles
Mark Bayer
Summary: "Inessential Shakespeare" is a category that emerged in Shakespeare studies as an academic discipline, influenced by critical, editorial, and economic factors. The construction of a material and conceptual apparatus was necessary to formalize the study of Shakespeare and differentiate it from the experience of watching performances. Two influential American editors of the nineteenth century, Henry Norman Hudson and Richard Grant White, unintentionally labeled certain plays as inessential during their efforts to make Shakespeare essential to American education. This delineation was a response to the institutional demands of this new field of study.
Film Review
Literature, British Isles
Harriet Scanlon
Article
Literature, British Isles
Bob Duckett
Book Review
Literature, British Isles
Sylvia Korman
Article
Literature, British Isles
A. S. G. Edwards
Article
Literature, British Isles
Jonathan P. A. Sell
Summary: This article discusses a crux in Henry V and compares different solutions to it. The author argues that Lewis Theobald's conjecture is not only misguided, but also has influenced the interpretation of other plays in the Henry IV series. The author suggests adopting William Smith's conjecture with slight modification as a more accurate understanding of the play and its characters.
