Shakesqueer puts the most exciting queer theorists in conversation with the complete works of William Shakespeare. Exploring what is odd, eccentric, and unexpected in the Bard’s plays and poems, these theorists highlight not only the many ways that Shakespeare can be queered, but also the many ways that Shakespeare can enrich queer theory. This innovative anthology reveals an early modern playwright insistently returning to questions of language, identity, and temporality, themes central to contemporary queer theory. Since many of the contributors do not study early modern literature, Shakesqueer takes queer theory back and brings Shakespeare forward, challenging the chronological confinement of queer theory to the last two hundred years. The book also challenges conceptual certainties that have narrowly equated queerness with homosexuality. Chasing all manner of stray desires through every one of Shakespeare’s plays and poems, the contributors cross temporal, animal, theoretical, and sexual, boundaries with abandon. Claiming adherence to no one school of thought, the essays consider The Winter’s Tale alongside network TV, Hamlet in relation to the death drive, King John as a history of queer theory, and Much Ado about Nothing in tune with a Sondheim musical. Together they expand the reach of queerness and queer critique across chronologies, methodologies, and bodies.
Contributors
Matt Bell
Amanda Berry
Daniel Boyarin
Judith Brown
Steven Bruhm
Peter Coviello
Julie Crawford
Drew Daniel
Mario DiGangi
Lee Edelman
Jason Edwards
Aranye Fradenburg
Carla Freccero
Daniel Juan Gil
Jonathan Goldberg
Jody Greene
Stephen Guy-Bray
Ellis Hanson
Sharon Holland
Cary Howie
Lynne Huffer
Barbara Johnson
Hector Kollias
James Kuzner
Arthur L. Little Jr.
Philip Lorenz
Heather Love
Jeffrey Masten
Robert McRuer
Madhavi Menon
Michael Moon
Paul Morrison
Andrew Nicholls
Kevin Ohi
Patrick R. O'Malley
Ann Pellegrini
Richard Rambuss
Valerie Rohy
Bethany Schneider
Kathryn Schwarz
Laurie Shannon
Ashley T. Shelden
Alan Sinfield
Bruce Smith
Karl Steel
Kathryn Bond Stockton
Amy Villarejo
Julian Yates
