The Romantic Cult of Shakespeare: Literary Reception in Anthropological Perspective

by P. Davidhazi

Overview

Focusing on England, Hungary and on some other European countries, the book explores the latent religious patterns in the appropriation of Shakespeare from the 1769 Stratford Jubilee to the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864. It shows how the Shakespeare cult used quasi-religious (verbal and ritual) means of reverence, how it made use of some romantic notions, and how the ensuing quasi-transcendental authority was utilized for political purposes. The book suggests a theoretical framework and a comprehensive anthropological context for the interpretation of literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312212872
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	08/19/1998
Series:	Romanticism in Perspective:Texts, Cultures, Histories
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Péter Dávidházi is Head of Department at the Institute for Literary Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.

Table of Contents

Preface
• Part I: The Exploration of a Literary Cult: Theoretical Assumptions and Methodological Problems
• Part II: The Genesis of a Ritual: The Shakespeare Cult in English Romanticism
• Part III: A Middle European Case Study: The Formation of the Shakespeare Cult in Hungary
• Part IV: The European Context: Typological Problems of Dissemination
• Part V: The Postponed Question of Judgment: Functions and Values Reconsidered
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index