Tyrant Shakespeare on politics
World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In explor...
| Main Author: | Greenblatt, Stephen, 1943- (Author) |
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| Corporate Authors: | Recorded Books, Inc. |
| Other Authors: | Ballerini, Edoardo, 1970- (Narrator) |
| Format: | Audiobooks Audiobook (CD) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Prince Frederick, Md. :
Recorded Books,
[2018]
|
| Edition: | Unabridged. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright's insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. As an aging, tenacious Elizabeth I clung to power, a talented playwright probed the social causes, the psychological roots, and the twisted consequences of tyranny. In exploring the psyche (and psychoses) of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, Coriolanus, and the societies they rule over, Stephen Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the catastrophic consequences of its execution. Cherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules--these aspects of a society in crisis fascinated Shakespeare and shaped some of his most memorable plays. With uncanny insight, he shone a spotlight on the infantile psychology and unquenchable narcissistic appetites of demagogues--and the cynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on who surround them-and imagined how they might be stopped. As Greenblatt shows, Shakespeare's work, in this as in so many other ways, remains vitally relevant today. |
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| Item Description: |
In container (17 cm.). Title from container. Compact discs. |
| Physical Description: |
5 audio discs (5 hr., 15 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. |
| ISBN: |
9781501997402 1501997408 |
| Author Notes: |
He is the author of Three Modern Satirists: Waugh, Orwell, and Huxley (1965); Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare (1980); Learning to Curse: Essays in Early Modern Culture (1990); Redrawing the Boundaries: The Transformation of English and American Literary Studies (1992); The Norton Shakespeare (1997); Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (2004); Shakespeare's Freedom (2010); and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern (2011). (Bowker Author Biography) |