Provides a comprehensive survey of approaches to genre in Shakespeare's work. Contributors probe deeply into genre theory and genre history by relating Renaissance conceptions. In this sense, the volume proposes to read Shakespeare through genre and, just as importantly, read genre through Shakespeare.

Kin, Kind, and Shakespeare's Significance to Genre Studies; A.R.Guneratne Shakespeare and Renaissance Genres PART I: ORIGINS AND CONVENTIONS Shakespeare the Metalinguist; D.Crystal Murdering Peasants: Status, Genre, and the Representation of Rebellion; S.Greenblatt 'The Stage Is Hung with Black': Genre and the Trappings of Stagecraft in Shakespearean Tragedy; A.Gurr PART II: SHAKESPEARE'S DEPLOYMENTS OF GENRE Shakespeare's Development of Theatrical Genres: Genre as Adaptation in the Comedies and Histories; D.Bevington The Shakespeare Remix: Romance, Tragicomedy, and Shakespeare's 'Distinct Kind'; L.Danson PART III: SHAKESPEARE AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF GENRES IN PERFORMANCE Turning Genre on Its Head: Shakespeare's Refashioning of His Sources in Richard III, King Lear, and The Winter's Tale; S.J.Lynch Shakespearean Comedy, Tempest-Toss'd: Genre, Social Transformation, and Contemporary Performance; D.Henderson Shakespeare and Contemporary Genres PART I: SHAKESPEARE AND CULTURALLY SPECIFIC GENRES Comical Tragedies and Other Poly-generic Shakespeares in Contemporary China and Diasporic Chinese Culture; A.Huang King Lear East of Berlin: Tragedy under Socialist Realism and Afterwards; B.Sokolova & A.Shurbanov PART II: SHAKESPEARE-BASED GENRES IN OTHER MEDIA Shakespeare and Film Genre in the Branagh Generation; S.Crowl Genre and Televised Shakespeare: Evolving Forms and Shifting Definitions; T.Howard Shakespeare and Media Allegory; P.S.Donaldson PART III: SHAKESPEARE AS GENRE Shakespeare Among the Philosophers; C.Martindale 'I'll teach you differences': Genre Literacy, Critical Pedagogy, and Screen Shakespeare; D.M.Lanier