Overview

Using a combination of anthropological and psychoanalytic methods, Farrell relates the fantasies of """"play-death"""" to the Renaissance belief that through self-effacement an individual may achieve autonomy in the family and society. Farrell develops a wide-ranging analysis of cultural responses to the human dread of death and makes Shakespeare's art a lens that brings into unusually sharp focus Renaissance social structure, gender relations, ideology, and religion. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

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9780807865385

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This book deals with the concept of play-death from the level of playing dead, through death in plays, to the cultural responses to death and their relationship to heroic values. Using both anthropological and psychoanalytic approaches, the author attempts to analyze a variety of Shakespearean texts with a simulation of death, 'a rhythm of play-death and resurrection or heroic apotheosis' as their common factor. . . . The result is thought-provoking. -- Choice

This book deals with the concept of play-death from the level of playing dead, through death in plays, to the cultural responses to death and their relationship to heroic values. Using both anthropological and psychoanalytic approaches, the author attempts to analyze a variety of Shakespearean texts with a simulation of death, 'a rhythm of play-death and resurrection or heroic apotheosis' as their common factor... The result is thought-provoking.--Choice

Author Information

Kirby Farrell is professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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