Overview

In this bold, original study Hedrick proposes an early modern ‘entertainment value’ revolution, to which Shakespeare contributed and in which he played a competitive role. As London’s nascent capitalist industry developed and the variety of entertainments proliferated, theatre contributes to the birth of entertainment value and a commercial trajectory toward what Marxist critic Adorno theorizes as ‘fun,’ seen contemporaneously in LasVegasization and the election of Donald Trump to U.S. Presidency. In this innovative approach to Shakespeare’s plays through their compulsory, competitive relation to other choices from London’s entertainment industry, such as sex work and gaming, Hedrick recovers a coherent internal dynamic of theatre’s ‘pleasure enclosure’ accompanying the revolutionary logic of capital’s new cultural and economic extremes. Applying these relations to original, insightful readings of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, and The Taming of the Shrew, Hedrick draws from cultural studies, contemporary and personal parallels, wide-ranging historical materials, and political theory. These include: the semantic shifts in keywords of pleasure, the practice of betting on actors, the psychology of paying admission before an entertainment, and various ‘reality shows’ such as contests of prose and verse. Continual insights emerge, both broad and specific: from ten ‘entertainment value axioms’ to Shakespeare’s awareness of entertainment value’s birth at moments in his late plays, marking a logic of value crisis, bubbles, and the danger of ‘too much fun.’

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9781350002845

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Reviews

Strikingly illuminates how the changing world of entertainment made Shakespeare part of a competitive and diversifying “entertainment industry.” Theoretically engaging and stylishly written, it deserves to be widely read and enjoyed. * Jean Howard, Delacorte Professor Emerita of the Humanities, Columbia University, USA * Donald Hedrick’s innovative, theoretically informed study uncovers startling connections between theatre and the dawn of commercial entertainments. Astonishingly, too, he has written a book—lavish with personal and present political insights—that makes it hard to put down. * Dympna Callaghan, Safire Professor of Modern Letters, Syracuse University, USA *

Author Information

Donald Hedrick is Professor of English at Kansas State University, USA.

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