[.ca] Shakespearean Negotiations: The Circulation of Social ... (ISBN 0520061608)

Unsurpassed Shakespeare criticism:
Although Greenblatt as received a good deal attention for his interest in critical practice and for his coining of the terms "New Historicisim" and "cultural poetics," his real strengths ahev also ben doing close readings of literary and historical texts. In Shakespearean Negotiations, Greenblatt offers typically brilliant and engaging readings of some of Shakespeare's major plays. His book is of interest to a wide audience beyond an academic one. The man is an exceptionally gifted writer and storyteller. It's a pity that so few other literary and cultural critics even come close to matching him. Perhaps only Stephen Orgel and Stanley Fish have equally brilliant prose styles and analytical powers.

Shakespeare in the Marketplace:
Published over a decade ago, this book has become not only a classic in Shakespearean study but also the exemplary of the "new historicism." Even nowadays it does not lose its refleshing power, and never fails to stimulate controversies (e.g. the issue of subversion and containment) that still continues well into the new millenium. Greenblatt has been criticized for homogenizing the history and sacrificing the complexity of the text (for an alternative model of new historicism, one can refer to Louis Montrose's articles and his book "The Purpose of Playing: Shakespeare and the Cultural Politics of Elizabethan Theatre"), but still he has successfully made a strong case for his major argument, namely that Shakespeare, far from a single-handed isolated individual genius coming from nowhere, heavily drew upon the cultural resources and "social energy" circulating among various domains beyond the boundaries of theatre and literature. Greenblatt is very deft in reconstructing the historical and ideological context that enriches the Shakespearen play. Time and again readers feel that the historical anecdote Greenblatt talks about even eclipses the play itself with its magic power of invoking wonder, which might make even those sympathetic readers like Frank Kermode complain that the part on Shakespeare in this book is less interesting than the part on history. But isn't this refocusing of interest not exactly part of demystifying the notion of genius and his sacred writing in order to appreciate Shakespeare more as a negotiator in the marketplace who purchases and exchanges symbolically? The last chapter on "Tempest" is especially highly recommended for its skillful intermingling of the issues of ruling strategy by means of inciting anxiety, colonial (counter)history, the space of theatre and finally the institutionalisation of literature.

Shakespeare as a social energy:
Writing today a book that still has something to say about Shakespeare is hard on our days. This is the reason why one can consider this book outstanding. Nonetheless, I have read many recent books about Shakespeare and I consider that behind the interesting concept of social energy lies an excessively skeptic version of Shakespeare. I can agree that Shakespeare's preeminence in the canon is largely due to the circulation of social energy, but I think that many of the richness of Shakespeare is too reduced to this factor. The book is an excellent reading for anybody interested in Shakespeare but requires some balancing. My recommendations would be the heterodox book by Rene Girard and the passionate and excessive approach of Bloom. This triad gives an excellent approach to contemporary theses on Shakespeare with complete counterarguments that neutralize the radical points of view of the three authors.