The seventeenth century saw the brief flowering of tragic drama in western Europe as a whole and in England in particular. It was, argues Victor Kiernan, the artistic expression of the consciousness of change which permeated every aspect of life during this period.

In this companion volume to Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen Kiernan sets out to rescue Shakespearean studies from the increasingly solipsistic terrain of literary criticism, focusing instead on historical location as a means to understanding Shakespeare's writing. Kiernan contends that the deep and accelerating changes in economy and society, brought about by the development of modern capitalism, drew the underlying tragic tensions of the History plays to the forefront.

V. G. Kiernan was Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Edinburgh. His numerous books include Marxism and Imperialism, State and Society in Europe 1550-1650 and Poets, Politics and the People; his America: The New Imperialism is also available from Verso.

Praise for Shakespeare: Poet and Citizen:
“Victor Kiernan is one of the best historians of seventeenth-century England, and he is also a sensitive literary critic. The combination of these gifts make this book a remarkable achievement. It will become a classic.” … Christopher Hill


Publication
Nov. 1996

192 pages
10 b/w photos

Cloth
978 1 85984 089 4
£17 / US$20 / CAN$31