The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 24.0044 Tuesday, 5 February 2013
From: Horacio Sierra <
Date: February 5, 2013 9:43:12 AM EST
Subject: Book Announcement
Hello Everyone,
I am pleased to announce the publication of my edited collection, New Readings of the Merchant of Venice, from Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN: 1443841765.
The last decade has witnessed a spate of high-profile presentations of The Merchant of Venice: the 2004 Michael Radford film, 2010’s New York City “Shakespeare in the Park” production, as well as the play’s Tony Award-nominated 2010-11 Broadway run. Likewise, new scholarly works such as Kenneth Gross’s Shylock is Shakespeare (2006) and Janet Adelman’s Blood Relations (2008) have offered poignant insights into this play. Why has this drama garnered so much attention of late? What else can we learn from this contentious comedy? How else can we read the drama’s characters? Where do studies of The Merchant of Venice go from here?
This collection offers readers sundry answers to these questions by showcasing a sampling of ways this culturally arresting play can be read and interpreted. The strength of this monograph lies in the disparate approaches its contributors offer – from a feminist view of Portia and Nerissa’s friendship to psychoanalytic readings of allegories between the play and Shakespeare’s Pericles to a reading of a Manga comic book version of The Merchant of Venice. Each essay is supported by a strong basis in traditional close reading practices. Our collection of scholars then buttresses such work with the theoretical or pedagogical frameworks that reflect their area of expertise. This collection offers readers different critical lenses through which to approach the primary text.
Cambridge Scholars Publishing link: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/New-Readings-of-The-Merchant-of-Venice1-4438-4176-5.htm
Horacio Sierra
Assistant Professor of English
Bowie State University