Shakespeare in the Present

Shakespeare in the Present: Political Lessons under Biden is the first case study in applying the lessons of Shakespeare's plays to post-Trump America.

Autorentext

Philip Goldfarb Styrt is an Assistant Professor of English at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago in 2015, and his first book, Shakespeare's Political Imagination: The Historicism of Setting was published in 2021 by Arden Shakespeare.

Klappentext

Shakespeare in the Present: Political Lessons under Biden is the first case study in applying the lessons of Shakespeare's plays to post-Trump America. It looks at American politics through the lens of Shakespeare, not simply equating figures in the contemporary world to Shakespearean characters, but showing how the broader conditions of Shakespeare's imagined worlds reflect and inform our own. Clearly written, in a direct and engaging style, it shows that reading Shakespeare with our contemporary Washington in mind can enrich our understanding of both his works and our world. Shakespeare wrote for his own time, but we always read him in our present. As such, the way we read him now is always affected by our own understanding of our own political world. This book provides quick critical analyses of Shakespeare's plays and contemporary American politics while serving as an introduction for undergraduates and general readers to this kind of topical, presentist criticism of Shakespeare.

Zusammenfassung

Shakespeare in the Present: Political Lessons under Biden is the first case study in applying the lessons of Shakespeare's plays to post-Trump America. It looks at American politics through the lens of Shakespeare, not simply equating figures in the contemporary world to Shakespearean characters, but showing how the broader conditions of Shakespeare's imagined worlds reflect and inform our own. Clearly written, in a direct and engaging style, it shows that reading Shakespeare with our contemporary Washington in mind can enrich our understanding of both his works and our world. Shakespeare wrote for his own time, but we always read him in our present. As such, the way we read him now is always affected by our own understanding of our own political world. This book provides quick critical analyses of Shakespeare's plays and contemporary American politics while serving as an introduction for undergraduates and general readers to this kind of topical, presentist criticism of Shakespeare.

Inhalt

Introduction: Shakespeare and Biden

Partisan Polarization

Polarization in late Republican Rome

Caesar and Antony beyond Trump

Partisanship closer to home

The American War of the Roses

Pretextual Insurrections and Unpunished Crimes

Henry Bolingbroke's inheritance and Richard II's throne

1399 and 2021

Elections, disputes, and danger to the state

The importance of consequences

The Tyranny of Expectations

From Hal to Harry

"Nothing can come of nothing"

Senator Joe and President Biden

Public negotiations

Inconstant Coalitions

Powerful allies

Wavering commitments

My 80% friend

Illegitimate Justice

The Queen and the Jew

Court-packing

Catering to self-interest

Lost France and Lost Afghanistan

France forever lost

The Hundred Years War and the "forever war"

Conclusion: Shakespeare and Presentism