About the Book:

The vitality of our culture is still often measured by the status Shakespeare has within it. Contemporary readers and writers continue to exploit Shakespeare's cultural afterlife in a vivid and creative way. Shakespeare and Appropriation is fascinating collection of original essays that shows how writers' efforts to imitate, contradict, compete with, and reproduce Shakespeare keep him in the cultural conversation.

Edited by Christy Desmet and Robert Sawyer, the essays in Shakespeare and Appropriation:
• analyze the methods and motives of Shakespearean appropriation
• investigate theoretically the return of the repressed author in discussions of Shakespeare's cultural function
• put into dialogue theoretical and literary responses to Shakespeare's cultural authority
• analyze works ranging from nineteenth century to the present, and genres ranging from poetry and the novel to Disney movies.

What people say:

"Shakespeare and Appropriation should be essential reading for anyone interested in the current state of Shakespeare studies in North America and the United Kingdom. [T]his volume epitomizes some of the most sophisticated and influential thinking that is currently being done about Shakespeare in scholarly circles. [I]n conception, design, and execution, Desmet and Sawyer's volume is a profoundly satisfying work, richly deserving of a wide and appreciative readership. Itself an act of sophisticated and innovative Shakespearean appropriation, this volume sets a very high standard of achievement for future scholars in its field." — South Atlantic Review

About the Author:

Christy Desmet is Associate Professor of English at the University of Georgia. She is the co-editor of Shakespeare and Appropriation.

Robert Sawyer is Assistant Professor of English at East Tennessee State University, and co-editor of Shakespeare and Appropriation.