Queer Shakespeare
Desire, Sexuality and Embodiment
2nd Edition
Published on 11. June 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-1-350-52747-8 (ISBN)
Description
The go-to resource for understanding desire, same-sex and trans eroticism in Shakespeare's texts, as well as in stage performance and in textual criticism, this open access second edition features revisions to the original chapters and an additional 5 new chapters.
The plays and poems of Shakespeare overflow with sexual and erotic discourses, languages, and representations concerning eroticism and sex, and they display forms of embodiment that intersect with the erotic. This preoccupation with sex and desire often disrupts on page and stage the otherwise heavily regulated worlds of sexuality and desire in Shakespeare's society.
The updated chapters take stock of the ideas and arguments explored in queer Shakespeare scholarship since the first edition in 2017. Five new chapters expand the scope of the book and trace further lines of enquiry: queerness in stage performance, and in the original intersection between textual and trans analysis; queerness and race; queerness and critical disability studies in the narrative poetry, and trans theory of queer Shakespeare. Together with a new introduction, Queer Shakespeare expands the possibilities for teaching both Shakespeare and queer theory in all of its manifestations.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.
The plays and poems of Shakespeare overflow with sexual and erotic discourses, languages, and representations concerning eroticism and sex, and they display forms of embodiment that intersect with the erotic. This preoccupation with sex and desire often disrupts on page and stage the otherwise heavily regulated worlds of sexuality and desire in Shakespeare's society.
The updated chapters take stock of the ideas and arguments explored in queer Shakespeare scholarship since the first edition in 2017. Five new chapters expand the scope of the book and trace further lines of enquiry: queerness in stage performance, and in the original intersection between textual and trans analysis; queerness and race; queerness and critical disability studies in the narrative poetry, and trans theory of queer Shakespeare. Together with a new introduction, Queer Shakespeare expands the possibilities for teaching both Shakespeare and queer theory in all of its manifestations.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.
Reviews / Votes
Unifying past scholarship with vital queer theory, this collection reveals necessary insights into our evolving relationship with Shakespeare ... This collection fervently reminds us that our largely underused queer imaginations may find productive new avenues to explore. * Shakespeare Bulletin, review of first edition * Through its insightful and apt discussions of Shakespeare's plays and poems, this volume offers specialists of early modern queer studies plenty to reflect upon. It will also be of great interest to readers who are not already conversant with queer theory. * Cahiers Elisabethains, review of first edition *More details
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
442 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-52747-8 (9781350527478)
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
Person
Goran Stanivukovic is Professor of Early Modern English Literature at Saint Mary's University, Canada and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program in English at Dalhousie University, Canada.
Content
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
A Note about the Text
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Second Edition: Queer Shakespeare: Desire, Sexuality and Embodiment. Goran Stanivukovic (Saint Mary's University, Canada)
PART I: QUEER TIME
1. 'Which is worthiest love' in The Two Gentlemen of Verona? David L. Orvis (Appalachian State University, USA)
2. Glass: The Sonnets' Desiring Object. John S. Garrison (Independent Scholar, USA)
3. The Sport of Asses: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Kirk Quinsland (Fordham University, USA)
4. Shakespeare's Sonnets and Beccadelli's Hermaphroditus. Ian Frederick Moulton (Arizona State University, USA)
PART II: QUEER LANGUAGE
5. The Queer Language of Size in Love's Labour's Lost. Valerie Billing (Central College, USA)
6. Locating Queerness in Cymbeline. Stephen Guy-Bray (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
7. Much Ado About Nothing and The Sound of Women's Desire. Holly Dugan (George Washington University, USA)
8. Queer Styles in Twelfth Night. Goran Stanivukovic, (Saint Mary's University, Canada)
PART III: QUEER NATURE
9. Queer Nature, or the Weather in Macbeth. Christine Varnado (Buffalo-State University of New York, USA)
10. Strange Insertions in The Merchant of Venice. Eliza Greenstadt? (Portland State University, USA)
11. Romeo and Juliet and the Promiscuous Seductions of Plague. Kathryn Schwarz (Vanderbilt University, USA)
12. Antisocial Procreation in Measure for Measure. Melissa E. Sanchez (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
PART IV: TRANS ANALYSIS
13. Male Femininity and Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Shakespeare's Plays and Poems. Simone Chess (Wayne State University, USA)
14. The Taming of the 'Lady' in The Shrew. Don Rodrigues (Old Dominion University, USA)
15. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Adonis?, James Yukiko Mulder (Bentley University, USA)
PART V: QUEER INTERSECTIONS
16. Queerness and Race in Shakespeare. Anita Raychawdhuri (Universitat de Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)
17. Queer/Crip Ovidian (dis)inheritances in Venus and Adonis. Lee Hansen (Independent Scholar, UK)
18. The Limits of Queerness in Contemporary Performances of Shakespeare. Curtis Dunn (Independent Scholar, USA)
Afterword to the First Edition, Vin Nardizzi (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Bibliography
Index
Notes on Contributors
A Note about the Text
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Second Edition: Queer Shakespeare: Desire, Sexuality and Embodiment. Goran Stanivukovic (Saint Mary's University, Canada)
PART I: QUEER TIME
1. 'Which is worthiest love' in The Two Gentlemen of Verona? David L. Orvis (Appalachian State University, USA)
2. Glass: The Sonnets' Desiring Object. John S. Garrison (Independent Scholar, USA)
3. The Sport of Asses: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Kirk Quinsland (Fordham University, USA)
4. Shakespeare's Sonnets and Beccadelli's Hermaphroditus. Ian Frederick Moulton (Arizona State University, USA)
PART II: QUEER LANGUAGE
5. The Queer Language of Size in Love's Labour's Lost. Valerie Billing (Central College, USA)
6. Locating Queerness in Cymbeline. Stephen Guy-Bray (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
7. Much Ado About Nothing and The Sound of Women's Desire. Holly Dugan (George Washington University, USA)
8. Queer Styles in Twelfth Night. Goran Stanivukovic, (Saint Mary's University, Canada)
PART III: QUEER NATURE
9. Queer Nature, or the Weather in Macbeth. Christine Varnado (Buffalo-State University of New York, USA)
10. Strange Insertions in The Merchant of Venice. Eliza Greenstadt? (Portland State University, USA)
11. Romeo and Juliet and the Promiscuous Seductions of Plague. Kathryn Schwarz (Vanderbilt University, USA)
12. Antisocial Procreation in Measure for Measure. Melissa E. Sanchez (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
PART IV: TRANS ANALYSIS
13. Male Femininity and Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Shakespeare's Plays and Poems. Simone Chess (Wayne State University, USA)
14. The Taming of the 'Lady' in The Shrew. Don Rodrigues (Old Dominion University, USA)
15. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Adonis?, James Yukiko Mulder (Bentley University, USA)
PART V: QUEER INTERSECTIONS
16. Queerness and Race in Shakespeare. Anita Raychawdhuri (Universitat de Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain)
17. Queer/Crip Ovidian (dis)inheritances in Venus and Adonis. Lee Hansen (Independent Scholar, UK)
18. The Limits of Queerness in Contemporary Performances of Shakespeare. Curtis Dunn (Independent Scholar, USA)
Afterword to the First Edition, Vin Nardizzi (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Bibliography
Index