Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare

Series Q

by Madhavi Menon, Michèle Aina Barale (Series Editor), Jonathan Goldberg (Series Editor)

Shakesqueer puts the most exciting queer theorists in conversation with the complete works of William Shakespeare. Exploring what is odd, eccentric, and unexpected in the Bard’s plays and poems, these theorists highlight not only the many ways that Shakespeare can be queered but also the many ways that Shakespeare can enrich queer theory. This innovative anthology reveals an early modern playwright insistently returning to questions of language, identity, and temporality, themes central to contemporary queer theory. Since many of the contributors do not study early modern literature, Shakesqueer takes queer theory back and brings Shakespeare forward, challenging the chronological confinement of queer theory to the last two hundred years. The book also challenges conceptual certainties that have narrowly equated queerness with homosexuality. Chasing all manner of stray desires through every one of Shakespeare’s plays and poems, the contributors cross temporal, animal, theoretical, and sexual boundaries with abandon. Claiming adherence to no one school of thought, the essays consider The Winter’s Tale alongside network TV, Hamlet in relation to the death drive, King John as a history of queer theory, and Much Ado About Nothing in tune with a Sondheim musical. Together they expand the reach of queerness and queer critique across chronologies, methodologies, and bodies. Contributors . Matt Bell, Amanda Berry, Daniel Boyarin, Judith Brown, Steven Bruhm, Peter Coviello, Julie Crawford, Drew Daniel, Mario DiGangi, Lee Edelman, Jason Edwards, Aranye Fradenburg, Carla Freccero, Daniel Juan Gil, Jonathan Goldberg, Jody Greene, Stephen Guy-Bray, Ellis Hanson, Sharon Holland, Cary Howie, Lynne Huffer, Barbara Johnson, Hector Kollias, James Kuzner , Arthur L. Little Jr., Philip Lorenz, Heather Love, Jeffrey Masten, Robert McRuer , Madhavi Menon, Michael Moon, Paul Morrison, Andrew Nicholls, Kevin Ohi, Patrick R. O’Malley, Ann Pellegrini, Richard Rambuss, Valerie Rohy, Bethany Schneider, Kathryn Schwarz, Laurie Shannon, Ashley T. Shelden, Alan Sinfield, Bruce Smith, Karl Steel, Kathryn Bond Stockton, Amy Villarejo, Julian Yates

Genres: Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Queer, LGBT, History, Literary Criticism, Research

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Madhavi Menon is Associate Professor of Literature at American University. She is the author of Unhistorical Shakespeare: Queer Theory in Shakespearean Literature and Film and Wanton Words: Rhetoric and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama and editor of Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare.

Reviews

[Julie Bozza · Rating 4 out of 5]

A particularly awesome pressie from my particularly awesome sister. ♥

***

I'm not sure I ever really knew what Queer Theory was all about, and after reading the introduction to this volume I felt like I knew even less. In fact I came to rather suspect that it is whatever we each want it to be. So I end up torn between wanting to pin things down a little firmer, and appreciating the freedom to go chase that darned butterfly wherever it may lead.

"Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing."

"True, I talk of Queer Theory."

Or maybe the problem is that I'm still stuck in the first wave of the thing, and Menon and her contributors are up to the third wave already. Of whatever this thing might be.

Once I got into the body of this book, however, I found much to enjoy. There is a short-ish essay here on each of the plays - including the lost or misbegotten plays - and each of the major poems, with not one but three essays on the Sonnets. Responses range from academic ponderings to a personal memoir to illustrations - and one essay even grumpily concludes that Queer Theory doesn't need Shakespeare after all.

Given the variety of content and approach, it's inevitable that some contributions will hit home and others will sail far wide of the mark. But that's rather awesome, really. There's probably something in here for just about everyone. There's even, much to my surprise, a beautiful evocation of what a loving monogamous relationship can be. Another thing that struck me was the determination to consider the whole shebang, not shirking from what Academia seem to dismiss as the unworthy elements.

"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?"

"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"

I don't know. I've docked a fifth star for a restless sense of dissatisfaction. When I figure out whether I am left wanting a whole lot MORE or rather LESS, damn it, then I will let you know.

[David]

Though I might conclude that I agree with only about half of the many ideas this book presents, I absolutely revel in the way the various writers are having FUN with what they're doing! In general, the tone of this collection is much more "Wouldn't it be fun if we just tried thinking about this play this way for a few moments" than the pervasive "one is obligated to profess the seriousness of both the author's oeuvre and, even more so, my own critical elucidation of its mysteries" tone of much academic writing. Also delightful is the clarity with which "queering" as an approach is, logically, open-minded and not restrictively rule-bound. The collection encourages thinking and enjoying the whole thought process; you can't say that about every literary critical work.

[Grace Snook · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I think this book's general approach is really fascinating, I couldn't help but feel like it's thesis falls flat in the execution. The essays were of widely varying quality. I loved thinking through the introduction, and generally tend to (and still do) think of Menon as a respectable scholar, I just am not one hundred swayed by this book's delivery or message.

[Merle (readinginvelaris) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a birthday present in 2019, and as soon as I had a look inside, I knew that this book would become the basis for my Bachelor thesis. And I was basically right. It took me ages to actually get to reading it and even longer to finally get through it, but it was definitely worth it.
The book contains an essay on every single one of Shakespeare's plays plus some of his debated works and sonnets. The authors stem from a great variety of disciplines, and consequently, they all bring interesting and unique perspectives to the plays. Some of these approaches would have never occurred to me, and I was fascinated by much of the background information.
However, the essay I was most excited about was the one about "A Midsummer Night's Dream" because that is my favorite play, and I also wanted to write my thesis on it. It gave me the idea to write about early modern lesbianism, and now Helena and Hermia are my favorite Shakespeare queers :D

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although some essays were a bit harder to get through. I would definitely recommend it to everyone who wants to learn more about the relationship between Shakespeare and queerness/queer theory.

“Thus, if it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a literary reputation must be in want of some queering, then that queering is in need of being queered” (Menon 2011, 10).

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This takes a rather loose/broad definition of the term "queer" and provides one essay per Shakespearean play and three for the Sonnets. The essay titles are hilarious. I'm not familiar with most of the texts discussed so I read the essays on the Henriad: Henry IV, Parts One and Two and Henry V, with the intention of going back to read other essays at a later date. I enjoyed most the two essays on the Henry IV plays, finding them thought-provoking and well-argued,. The Henry V essay had a solid core that was fascinating but badly unpacked, it felt as though it had been scrambled together from a hodge-podge of ideas in an all-nighter, with the conclusion presented as a gotcha that only baffled me.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who knew queer theory could be so fun! Great collection of essays.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the essays were fun and fascinating - others, not so much.

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

i didn’t read this whole thing because its a TOME and my university library has me banned until i pay a $3 late fee but FIVE STARS i loved every word that i read

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been teaching Lesbian and Gay Theory in secondary schools for some years (and being considered "radical" for it), this book is eye-opening in its reading of Third-Wave Queer Theory, which often has minimal linkages to questions of sexual and gender identity. This may be old hat to all of you.

But what (a lot of) these essays do is provoke: there are few that don't make me think "Ooh, that's interesting: I hadn't spotted that before", and a few that make me think I need to read (or re-read) plays I had forgotten or neglected: I need to read Henry VI part two and Two Gentlemen after reading this, and need to reread The Lover's Complaint.

Obviously, there are some that hit less hard than others: I think the Much Ado essay is a really good analysis of Sondheim's Company, less good on Much Ado itself. But any Shakespeare play you think "I know this play so well now" have a go on the essay from this volume. Insightful.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quality resource for queer readings of Shakespearean texts that loses some of its appeal when read cover-to-cover. The companion aspect of the title is important for understanding what to expect with this book.

[Katheryn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is inevitably the case with an anthology, I liked some essays more than others, but I loved the diversity of queer approaches these scholars bring to Shakespeare's plays and poems. I also appreciated that Shakesqueer is doing something different, even when it didn't always work for me.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Some good stuff in here.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Queerly the Question my friend
to be or not to be
may not be the true question
of this journey...
...let not darkness obscure
our preponderance of the facts...

[Mora]

mixed bag, as to be expected. best essays were merchant of venice, hamlet, richard ii, macbeth, tempest, and winter's tale.

[Duke Press]

“There’s something for every queer scholar and Bard-lover in the anthology; from bears in Henry VIII to eunuchs in Antony and Cleopatra, from the death drive in Hamlet to precariously heterosexual marriages in All’s Well that Ends Well, the contributing authors chart Shakespeare’s varied engagements with queerness, putting pressure on assumptions that Shakespeare has nothing to offer to contemporary queer theory. . . . The assorted essays assert that Shakespeare has as much to offer queer theory as queer theory can contribute to understanding and deconstructing the Bard’s texts. This book belongs on every bookish queer’s shelf, right where the leather-bound Complete Works of William Shakespeare butts up against Butler and Foucault.”--Kestryl Cael Lowrey, Lambda Literary Review

“If you're looking for clues to Romeo and Mercutio's secret romance in the new academic volume Shakesqueer : A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by Madhavi Menon (Duke), you're barking up the wrong yew tree. American University professor Menon and her queer-theorist contributors find queerness in Shakespeare in that term's most all-encompassing meaning of oddball, unusual, or non-normative. But when you come to think of it, fairy queen Titania falling in love with an ass named Bottom is pretty queer, in all senses of the word.”--Roberto Friedman, Bay Area Reporter

“Few works of literary criticism deserve the descriptor ‘monumental,’ but this one does. . . . The book is both readable and witty. It is also important, for it drives the final nail into the coffin of 20th-century Shakespearean studies. . . . No hierarchies survive this book. Every play and poem receives a fresh new reading. . . . Essential. All readers.”--M. J. Emery, Choice

“This fascinating collection of essays explores the queer elements within all of Shakespeare’s works. With contributions from scholars of both queer studies and Shakespeare, the volume represents a joining of the two fields rarely attempted before.”--Charles Green, Gay and Lesbian Review/Worldwide

“It is rare to see a volume that does so much, and does it with such consistent wit, thoughtfulness, and creativity. . . . In putting together this volume, Menon has done scholars from all fields and periods an immense service. Shakesqueer gives us a very queer new reading ‘’companion’’ — friend, helpmeet, comrade-in-arms — that makes us exquisitely aware of the need for the perverse and disruptive critical practice its essays so pleasurably model.”--Melissa E. Sanchez, Renaissance Quarterly

“When studying endless Shakespeare plays on English Literature courses, we always had a hunch there were some exceptionally queer goings on beyond some same sex sonnets and this collection of essays proves us right. Earl on earl analysis sits beside complex queer theories on the bard.”--Gay Times

“Take forty-eight smart and interesting thinkers working in the field of queer theory – some of them Shakespeareans and early modernists, some not – that is one for each of the forty-five works by Shakespeare, plus three for the Sonnets. Get them to write – more or less reluctantly – their observations on the individual work of William Shakespeare allocated to them. . . . Then, in a deliciously hip anachronistic move, apply the notion of queerness to Shakespeare’s opus in order to uphold the idea of its continuing relevance. By rearranging the pixels on the icon of Shakespeare, turn him into an altogether different, modern, fresh, re-thought kind of icon; yet an icon nevertheless. Or, as the Bard himself puts it: one must be cruel only to be kind.”--Danijela Kambasković-Sawers, Parergon

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag. Some of these essay are great; others don't say anything new.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!

[Emma Sea]

NTS: requested via library

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The essays in this companion to Shakespeare's plays are brilliant. Each one is smart, sassy, and adds new ways of seeing Bro. Shake's characters and situations in new light. The queer light.