Shakespeare and Fun
The Birth of Entertainment Value
Seiten
2025
The Arden Shakespeare (Verlag)
978-1-350-00284-5 (ISBN)
The Arden Shakespeare (Verlag)
978-1-350-00284-5 (ISBN)
- Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Februar 2025)
- Versandkostenfrei
- Auch auf Rechnung
- Artikel merken
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.’
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.’
Donald Hedrick is Professor of English at Kansas State University, USA.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
1. Surprised by Capital, or Enter Entertainment Value
2. The Entertainment Unconscious: Method, Sample, Axiom
3. Discourses of Fun: The Revolutionary Emergence of Entertainment Value
4. Green Prostitution
5. ShrewGames
6. Bubbles, or 'Fun Even for the Losers'
Notes
References
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 6.2.2025 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 4 bw illus |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 138 x 216 mm |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturgeschichte | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-350-00284-4 / 1350002844 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-350-00284-5 / 9781350002845 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
der stille Abschied vom bäuerlichen Leben in Deutschland
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 32,15
vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart
Buch | Softcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 16,80
Die Revolution des Gemeinen Mannes
Buch | Softcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
CHF 16,80
