Hamlet versus Lear: Cultural Politics and Shakespeare's Art

by R.A. Foakes

This book focuses on the two plays of Shakespeare that have generally contended for the title of "greatest" among his works. Recent critical theorizing has destabilized the texts and undermined the notion of "greatness" or any consideration of the plays as works of art. Foakes takes issue with such theories and reconsiders textual revisions, in order to argue for the integrity of the plays as reading texts, and to recover a flexible sense of their artistry in relation to meaning.

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 1993

About the author

Reginald A. Foakes was an English author and Shakespeare scholar. He has published works on Shakespeare and the Romantic poets and edited many of Shakespeare's plays in the Arden and New Cambridge editions.