Spiritual Shakespeares

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in secular materialism, theology, or contemporary theory. That at least is what the present collection sets out so suggestively to show." John D. Caputo (from the foreword) "Readers will find here an engagement with both Shakespeare and spirituality which is intelligent, original, and challengingly optimistic, one which surely succeeds in its wish to "reinvigorate and strengthen politically progressive materialist criticism." Jonathan Dollimore (from the afterword) Spiritual Shakespearesis the first book to explore the scope for reading Shakespeare spiritually in the light of contemporary theory and current world events. Ewan Fernie has brought together an exciting cast of critics in order to respond to the "religious turn" in recent literary theory and to the spiritualized politics of terrorism and the "War on Terror." Opening a genuinely new perspective within Shakespeare Studies, the volume suggests thatexperiencing the spiritual intensities of the plays could lead us back to dramatic intensity as such. It tests spirituality from a political perspective, as well as subjecting politics to an unusual spiritual critique. Amongst its controversial and provocative arguments is the idea that a consideration of spirituality might point the way forward for materialist criticism. SpiritualShakespearesreaches across and beyond literary studies to offer challenging, powerful contributions from Philippa Berry, John D. Caputo, Jonathan Dollimore, Ewan Fernie, Lisa Freinkel, Lowell Gallagher, John J. Joughin, Richard Kearney, David Ruiter and Kiernan Ryan.