Phenomenal Shakespeare [Paperback]

In Phenomenal Shakespeare, leading Shakespeare scholar Bruce R. Smith presents an original account for the ways in which Shakespeares poems and plays continue to resonate with audiences, readers and scholars because of their engagement with the whole body, not just the reading mind.?

• An original examination of Shakespeares appeal written by leading Shakespeare scholar Bruce R. Smith
• Contains insightful examinations of a single Shakespeare sonnet, Venus and Adonis, and King Lear to model the possibilities of historical phenomenology as a better strategy for critical reading than approaches based on language alone
• Pushes beyond traditional treatments of Shakespeare
• An ideal handbook of contemporary approaches to Shakespeare and a celebration of Shakespeare's staying power on stage, on film, and on the page

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: The Argument xi

1 As It Likes You 1

2 How Should One Read a Shakespeare Sonnet? 38

3 Carnal Knowledge 82

4 Touching Moments 132

Epilogue: What Shakespeare Proves 177

Works Cited 187

Picture Credits 197

Index 199?

I cannot recommend Bruce Smith's book highly enough to any researcher interested in deepening their understanding of historical phenomenology. The first chapter on As You Like It manifests-through an analysis of the modern use of the quotative like and three contrasting portraits of Bacon, Descartes and Husserl in their private studies of phenomena-the central goals and underpinnings of this theoretical approach. (Routledge ABES, 2011)

But Smith's pleasure-seeking book, a useful corrective to the worst excesses of historicism is police-like in its own way . (Times l3y