Shakespeare Unlearned - Pedantry, Nonsense, and the Philology of Stupidity

A light-stepping, illuminating study of words and characters in Shakespeare's plays that pertain to the idea of 'stupidity', drawing on a variety of sources to explore the limits of scholarly learnedness, and the vibrancy of unlearned perspectives on obscure words and difficult art.

List of contents

• List of Figures


• Textual Note


• Prologue


• Introduction: Toward a Philology of Stupidity


• 1: Twelfth Night and the Broken Jest


• 2: On Pedantry: Ben Jonson and the Invitation of Obscurity


• 3: Stage Pedants and Magisterial Nonsense


• 4: Twangling Instruments: The Soundwork of The Tempest


• Acknowledgments


• Works Cited


• Index

About the author

Adam Zucker is Associate Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has won the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award. He is the author of The Places of Wit in Early Modern English Comedy (2011) and the co-editor of essay collections Historical Affects and the Early Modern Theater (2015) and Localizing Caroline Drama: Politics and Economics of the Early Modern English Stage, 1625-1642 (2006). He is also co-editor of the journal English Literary Renaissance.

Summary

A light-stepping, illuminating study of words and characters in Shakespeare's plays that pertain to the idea of 'stupidity', drawing on a variety of sources to explore the limits of scholarly learnedness, and the vibrancy of unlearned perspectives on obscure words and difficult art.

Product details

• Authors: Adam Zucker, Adam (Associate Professor Zucker, Adam (Professor Zucker, Zucker Adam
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.09.2024
• EAN: 9780198906773
• ISBN: 978-0-19-890677-3
• No. of pages: 224
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; English, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / General, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Shakespeare Studies & Criticism, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Relating to Shakespeare / Shakespearean