Shakespeare and Complexity Theory
1st Edition
Published on 12. December 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
222 pages
978-0-367-88630-1 (ISBN)
Description
In this new monograph, Claire Hansen demonstrates how Shakespeare can be understood as a complex system, and how complexity theory can provide compelling and original readings of Shakespeare's plays. The book utilises complexity theory to illuminate early modern theatrical practice, Shakespeare pedagogy, and the phenomenon of the Shakespeare 'myth'. The monograph re-evaluates Shakespeare, his plays, early modern theatre, and modern classrooms as complex systems, illustrating how the lens of complexity offers an enlightening new perspective on diverse areas of Shakespeare scholarship. The book's interdisciplinary approach enriches our understanding of Shakespeare and lays the foundation for complexity theory in Shakespeare studies and the humanities more broadly.
Reviews / Votes
Shakespeare and Complexity Theory is a mind-expanding and discipline-shattering text. It is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding complexity theory and its relevance to literary studies. The book illuminates the 'Shakespeare' phenomenon as a complex array of interlocking systems reaching from authorship to collaboration, storytelling to theatrical practice, dance to pedagogy, and natural to cultural environments. Exciting new readings of canonical plays are enabled by leveraging complexivist principles such as bounded instability, self-organisation, emergence and attractors.--Professor Liam E. Semler, University of Sydney"Shakespeare and Complexity Theory displays a kind of breathtaking intellectual energy here that carries all before it." - Evelyn Tribble, Donald Collie Chair, University of Otago
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate and Undergraduate
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
349 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-367-88630-1 (9780367886301)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Claire Hansen
Shakespeare and Complexity Theory
Book
06/2017
1st Edition
Routledge
€241.80
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Claire Hansen is a researcher on the Shakespeare Reloaded Project at the University of Sydney.
Content
CONTENTS
List of Figures
Introduction: Shakespeare, the System
1: The Characteristics of Complexity
2: 'Like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered': Dance and bounded instability in A Midsummer Night's Dream
3: 'Hath the firmament more suns than one?' Co-authorship, space and self-organisation in Titus Andronicus
4: 'Such Branches of Learning': The Unexpected in Shakespeare Pedagogy and The Merchant of Venice
5: 'Constant as the Northern Star'? The Power of Attractors in Stratford-upon-Avon and Julius Caesar
Conclusion
References
Index
List of Figures
Introduction: Shakespeare, the System
1: The Characteristics of Complexity
2: 'Like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered': Dance and bounded instability in A Midsummer Night's Dream
3: 'Hath the firmament more suns than one?' Co-authorship, space and self-organisation in Titus Andronicus
4: 'Such Branches of Learning': The Unexpected in Shakespeare Pedagogy and The Merchant of Venice
5: 'Constant as the Northern Star'? The Power of Attractors in Stratford-upon-Avon and Julius Caesar
Conclusion
References
Index