Stephen Greenblatt

A young man from the provinces a man without wealth, connections, or university education moves to London. In a remarkably short time he becomes the greatest playwright not just of his age but of all time. His works appeal to urban sophisticates and first-time theatergoers; he turns politics into poetry; he recklessly mingles vulgar clowning and philosophical subtlety. How is such an achievement to be explained? How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare?...

For almost twenty years, new historicism has been a highly controversial and influential force in literary and cultural studies. In Practicing the New Historicism, two of its most distinguished practitioners reflect on its surprisingly disparate sources and far-reaching effects. In lucid and jargon-free prose, Catherine Gallagher and Stephen Greenblatt focus on five central aspects of new historicism: recurrent use of anecdotes, preoccupation with...

The Norton Shakespeare has long been acclaimed worldwide for its vibrant introductions, first among them Stephen Greenblatt's General Introduction, a richly textured portrait of Shakespeare's work and world. This Third Edition introduces a meticulously edited new text created by an expert international team of textual editors, a new introduction to the theater of Shakespeare's time, new performance notes, and hundreds of fine-tuned glosses that aid...

The ninth edition offers more complete works, more teachable groupings than ever before and the apparatus teachers trust. Read by more than 8 million students, The Norton Anthology of English Literature sets the standard. New longer texts include: 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' in Simon Armitage's new translation, Sidney's 'Defense of Poetry', Wycherley's 'The Country Wife', Joyce's 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man', Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'...