Shakespeare and Forgetting

Shakespeare explores the concept of forgetting and how it functions in performance, offering close readings of his plays and discussing forgetting theory from antiquity to the present day. The book explores Shakespeares dramaturgy, from characters who forget what they were about to say to characters who leave the stage never to return, from real forgetting to performed forgetting, from the mad to the powerful, from playgoers to Shakespeare himself.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 09 February 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

When a Shakespearean character forgets something or when Hamlet decides to wipe away all trivial fond records, what does it signify? How might forgetting be an act to be performed, or be linked to forgiveness, such as when in The Winter's Tale Cleomenes encourages Leontes to forget your evil? And what do we as readers and audiences forget of Shakespeare's works and of the performances we watch?

This is the first book devoted to a broad consideration of how Shakespeare explores the concept of forgetting and how forgetting functions in performance. A wide-ranging study of how Shakespeare dramatizes forgetting, it offers close readings of Shakespeare's plays, considering what Shakespeare forgot and what we forget about Shakespeare. The book touches on an equally broad range of forgetting theory from antiquity through to the present day, of forgetting in recent novels and films, and of creative ways of making sense of how our world constructs the cultural meaning of and anxiety about forgetting. Drawing on dozens of productions across the history of Shakespeare on stage and film, the book explores Shakespeare's dramaturgy, from characters who forget what they were about to say, to characters who leave the stage never to return, from real forgetting to performed forgetting, from the mad to the powerful, from playgoers to Shakespeare himself.

In conclusion, Shakespeare's exploration of forgetting is a rich and complex topic that offers insights into the human condition and the nature of performance. By examining the ways in which characters forget and are forgotten, we can better understand the complexities of memory, identity, and the power of storytelling. This book provides a valuable contribution to the field of Shakespeare studies and will be of interest to scholars and audiences alike.

Weight: 346g
Dimension: 138 x 217 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350211537