New Perspectives on Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, co-edited by Sophie Chiari, Sophie Lemercier-Goddard and Michèle Vignaux

Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal
Mai 2017

ISBN (Book) : 978-2-84516-756-8
ISBN (PDF) : 978-2-84516-757-5

A favourite with audiences and critics alike, Shakespeare’s As You Like It owes part of its appeal to its seemingly endless capacity for recreation. Despite the apparent simplicity of its plot, it offers a whole gamut of emotions and engages with the act of counterfeiting, thereby proposing a multiplicity of mirror games, from its binary and symmetrical structure to its linguistic games and ritual inversions. Yet, the comedy’s “true delights” (5.4.182) should not overshadow its deep social and political relevance. This volume intends to shed fresh light on Shakespeare’s “green” comedy so as to emphasise its powerful resonances today. Divided into four parts, it first deals with some of the main ecocritical issues at work in the play before examining Shakespeare’s reassessment of human nature. The volume then proceeds with the experimental dimension of As You Like It and explores specific issues related to staging and editing. An Epilogue presented as a question-and-answer session provides clarifying remarks on the comedy’s rich literary background. Working with a variety of approaches, these essays highlight the complexity of a fascinating play while taking stock of the recent critical trends in Shakespearean studies.

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Table of Contents

About the Volume
Table of Contents