Radical Tragedy: Religion, Ideology and Power in the Drama of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries

by Jonathan Dollimore

When it was first published, Radical Tragedy was hailed as a groundbreaking reassessment of the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. An engaged reading of the past with compelling contemporary significance, Radical Tragedy remains a landmark study of Renaissance drama. The third edition of this critically acclaimed work includes a new foreword by Terry Eagleton and an extensive new introduction by the author.

Genres: Shakespeare, Literary Criticism, Criticism, Nonfiction, Theatre, Religion

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Rhuddem Gwelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author places the plays of the Jacobean period within the context of the society and politics of the time, thus refuting the idealist interpretation that the individuals in the plays are some sort of essential humans with eternal values. In other words it promotes a cultural materialism vs an idealist white European male humanism. For that it is excellent. However my Shakespeare chauvinism shows in that I find the analyses of the Shakespeare plays ever so much more interesting than that of the other plays. I wish he'd chosen more Shakespeare.

[William Durden]

I credit Dollimore with fanning the spark of interest I had in English studies into something sustainable. His was the most cogent political theory (applied to literary studies) I had read, and of course as taught by Desiree Hellegers I was able to find an 'in' to apply his insights to Hamlet, present at a conference, and get accepted to my MA program. I'll never read Shakespeare, or any text really, the same way again. Dollimore is one of my 'mentors that I've never met.'

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a ridiculous number of typos in this book, especially given that it is in its 3rd edition and published by a prominent university press like Duke.

[Lucy Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid work from the ever-interesting Dollimore.