Shakespeare and Marx

by Gabriel Egan

Marxist cultural theory underlies much teaching and research in university departments of literature and has played a crucial role in the development of recent theoretical work. Feminism, New Historicism, cultural materialism, postcolonial theory, and queer theory all draw upon ideas about cultural production which can be traced to Marx, and significantly each also has a special relation with Renaissance literary studies. This book explores the past and continuing influence of Marx's ideas in work on Shakespeare. Marx's ideas about cultural production and its relation to economic production are clearly explained, together with the standard terminology and concepts such as base/superstructure, ideology, commodity fetishism, alienation, and reification. The influence of Marx's ideas on the theory and practice of Shakespeare criticism and performance is traced from the Victorian age to the present day. The continuing importance of these ideas is illustrated via new Marxist readings
of King Lear , hamlet , The Merchant of Venice , Timon of Athens , The Comedy of Errors , All's Well that Ends Well , and The Winter's Tale .

Genres: Shakespeare

178 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2004

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gabriel Egan is a true believer. If you want to understand what Marx and Marxists have written about Shakespeare, this is a great book. If you want to see how Dr. Egan applies Marxist ideas to Shakespeare, this is a great book. If you want a survey of the ways that Shakespeare scholars have appropriated Marx for their work, forget about it: that is not the purpose of this book. If you find true believers annoying, especially when you are deeply skeptical about their beliefs, this this book may annoy you as much as it did me.