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Deadwood and Shakespeare: The Henriad in the Old West
Set in politically unstable environments, Shakespeare's history plays--Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV and Henry V--and HBO's Western series Deadwood (2004-2006) all stand as critiques of myths of national origin, the sanitized stories we tell ourselves about how power imposes order on chaos.
Drawing parallels between the Shakespeare plays and Deadwood, the author explores questions about legitimate political authority, the qualities of an effective leader, gender roles and community, and the reciprocal relationship between past and present in historical narratives.
Drawing parallels between the Shakespeare plays and Deadwood, the author explores questions about legitimate political authority, the qualities of an effective leader, gender roles and community, and the reciprocal relationship between past and present in historical narratives.
357 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2018
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October 6, 2026
𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑙𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡. Susan Cosby Ronnenberg. 2018.
Nonfiction. Literary criticism. Television and pop culture studies. Interdisciplinary literary/historical studies.
𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒 examines HBO's lawless frontier camp (𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 2004-2006, 2019) alongside Shakespeare’s 𝐻𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑑. The author explores how both narratives expose the raw, chaotic mechanics of political power formation as well as the way myths about national origin are forged.
This is a scholarly examination that analyses the Elizabethan dialogue of Shakespeare’s plays alongside the often profane pseudo-Western dialogue created for 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 by David Milch. In doing so, she concludes that they compare favourably and they are part of the same literary tradition.
Indeed, a central point of this study is to demonstrate that, in spite of its rough appearance (to the untrained eye), Milch’s work is on par with that of The Bard. By mixing anachronistic modern profanity with the cliched language of Hollywood Westerns and structuring much of it in iambic pentameter, Milch created a masterpiece of TVs golden age.
If you know anything about me, you know that I concur with Crosby Ronnenberg’s primary thesis. Heartily.
My own work is heavily influenced by both Milch and Shakespeare. Chapter 31 of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑒 is about as close to 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 fanfic as I have ever written. And my own use of Blank Verse in the same story is prolific.
Not only do I admire what Milch was trying to accomplish. But I am doing my best to carry this tradition forward into the future.
AUTHORS - I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.
Nonfiction. Literary criticism. Television and pop culture studies. Interdisciplinary literary/historical studies.
𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒 examines HBO's lawless frontier camp (𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 2004-2006, 2019) alongside Shakespeare’s 𝐻𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑑. The author explores how both narratives expose the raw, chaotic mechanics of political power formation as well as the way myths about national origin are forged.
This is a scholarly examination that analyses the Elizabethan dialogue of Shakespeare’s plays alongside the often profane pseudo-Western dialogue created for 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 by David Milch. In doing so, she concludes that they compare favourably and they are part of the same literary tradition.
Indeed, a central point of this study is to demonstrate that, in spite of its rough appearance (to the untrained eye), Milch’s work is on par with that of The Bard. By mixing anachronistic modern profanity with the cliched language of Hollywood Westerns and structuring much of it in iambic pentameter, Milch created a masterpiece of TVs golden age.
If you know anything about me, you know that I concur with Crosby Ronnenberg’s primary thesis. Heartily.
My own work is heavily influenced by both Milch and Shakespeare. Chapter 31 of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝐶𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑒 is about as close to 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 fanfic as I have ever written. And my own use of Blank Verse in the same story is prolific.
Not only do I admire what Milch was trying to accomplish. But I am doing my best to carry this tradition forward into the future.
AUTHORS - I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.
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