This volume marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death by reflecting on the unrivalled work of the Shakespeare Association of America and offering a unique collection of leading Shakespeare scholars outlining key developments in Shakespeare studies over the last two decades. These essays are complemented by younger scholars who respond and look forward to new fields of study and debate. As such the book offers a "state of the nation" look at Shakespeare criticism, covering all the key areas of research and study including gender, text, performance, the body, history, religion and biography. This is a must-read, comprehensive introduction to the key critical ideas surrounding Shakespeare's work and a stimulating exploration of where Shakespeare studies will go next.

A unique collection by leading internationally respected scholars

Preface - Lena OrlinList of ContributorsIntroduction - Dympna Callaghan and Suzanne GossettFeminismWhy Feminism Still Matters - Phyllis RackinJust Imagine - Kathryn SchwarzLetters, Characters, Roots - Wendy WallSexualityDeeds, Desire, Delight - Bruce R. SmithRethinking Sexual Acts and Identities - Mario DiGangiHexaSexuality - Madhavi MenonTeachingThe Classroom - David BevingtonMoney for Jam - Marjorie GarberExtension Work - Patricia CahillEditingFacts, Theories, and Beliefs - Barbara A. MowatWhat We Owe to Editors - Lukas ErneWhat's Next in Editing Shakespeare - Sonia MassaiMortalitySuicide as Profit or Loss - Mary Beth RoseDeath and King Lear - Michael NeillShakespeare's Here - Scott L. NewstokMediaSpectatorship, Remediation, and One Hundred Years of Hamlet - James C. BulmanPerforming Shakespeare through Social Media - Pascale AebischerReading Shakespeare through Media Archaeology - Alan GaleyRace and ClassIs Black so Base a Hue? - Jean E. HowardThe Race of Shakespeare's Mind - Lara BovilskySpeaking of Race - Ian SmithSourcesShakespeare and the Bible - Robert S. MiolaShakespeare's Sources - Ania LoombaVolver, or Coming Back - Sarah BeckwithText and AuthorshipCollaboration 2016 - Gary TaylorThe Value of Stage Directions - Laurie MaguireThe Author Being Dead - Adam G. HooksGlobalizationAgainst Our Own Ignorance - Susanne L. WoffordCircumnavigation, Shakespeare, and the Origins of Globalization - Daniel VitkusThe Bard in Calcutta, India, 1835-2014 - Jyotsna G. SinghBodies and EmotionsBodies without Borders in Lear and Macbeth - Gail Kern PasterPotions, Passion, and Fairy Knowledge in A Midsummer Night's Dream - Mary Floyd-WilsonShakespeare and Variant Embodiment - David Houston WoodSocial ContextSocial Contexting - Frances E. Dolan"Hic et ubique": Hamlet in Sync - Bradin BormackPlaying in Context, Playing out Context - William N. WestHistoricismHistoricizing Historicism - William C. CarrollMinding Anachronism - Margreta de GraziaThe Historicist as Gamer - Gina BloomAppropriationsAmerican Appropriation through the Centuries - Georgianna ZieglerAppropriation 2.0 - Christy DesmetAppropriation in Contemporary Fiction - Andrew HartleyBiographyShakespeare and Biography - Peter HollandShakespeare's Friends and Family in the Archives - David KathmanBiography vs. Novel - Lois PotterClassicismThe Classics as Popular Discourse - Coppelia KahnShakespeare's Classicism, Redux - Lynn EnterlineTime, Verisimilitude, and the Counter-Classical Ovid - Heather JamesPublic ShakespeareThe Publicity of the Look - Paul YachninPublic Women / Women of Valor - Julia Reinhard LuptonThe Ghost of the Public University - Henry S. TurnerStyleWilliam Shakespeare, Elizabethan Stylist - Russ McDonaldNondramatic Style - Stephen Guy-BrayShakespeare's Lexical Style - Alysia KolentsisPerformancePluralizing Performance - Diana E. HendersonThe Study of Historical Performance - Tiffany SternShakespeare / Performance - W. B. WorthenEcocriticismShakespeare and Nature - Rebecca BushnellShakespeare without Nature - Steve MentzThe Chicken and the Egg - Karen RaberAfterword: Shakespeare in Tehran - Stephen Greenblatt