This book offers a comprehensive, readable and authoritative introduction to the study of Shakespeare, by means of nineteen newly commissioned essays. An international team of prominent scholars provide a broadly cultural approach to the chief literary, performative and historical aspects of Shakespeare’s work. They bring the latest scholarship to bear on traditional subjects of Shakespeare study, such as biography, the transmission of the texts, the main dramatic and poetic genres, the stage in Shakespeare’s time and the history of criticism and performance. In addition, authors engage with more recently defined topics: gender and sexuality, Shakespeare on film, the presence of foreigners in Shakespeare’s England and his impact on other cultures. Helpful reference features include chronologies of the life and works, illustrations, detailed reading lists and a bibliographical essay.

• Entirely new essays commissioned for this volume • Compared with predecessor (Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, editor Wells) there is a greater emphasis on historical and cultural context, on gender, on film, on global Shakespeare • International team of contributors: American, Canadian, British, German, Australian, Indian

Contents
Preface; List of illustrations; William Shakespeare: a partial chronology; A conjectural chronology of Shakespeare’s works; 1. Shakespeare’s life Ernst Honigmann; 2. The reproduction of Shakespeare’s texts Barbara A. Mowat; 3. What did Shakespeare read? Leonard Barkan; 4. Shakespeare and the craft of language Margreta de Grazia; 5. Shakespeare’s poems John Kerrigan; 6. The genres of Shakespeare’s plays Susan Snyder; 7. Playhouses, players, and playgoers in Shakespeare’s time John H. Astington; 8. The London scene: city and court Anne Barton; 9. Gender and sexuality in Shakespeare Valerie Traub; 10. Outsiders in Shakespeare’s England Ania Loomba; 11. Shakespeare and English history David Scott Kastan; 12. Shakespeare in the theatre, 1660–1900 Lois Potter; 13. Shakespeare in the twentieth-century theatre Peter Holland; 14. Shakespeare and the cinema Russell Jackson; 15. Shakespeare on the page and the stage Michael Dobson; 16. Shakespeare worldwide Dennis Kennedy; 17. Shakespeare criticism, 1600–1900 Hugh Grady; 18. Shakespeare criticism in the twentieth century R. S. White; 19. Shakespeare reference books Dieter Mehl.