Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Shakespeare for the People : Working Class Readers, 1800-1900, Paperback / softback Book

Shakespeare for the People : Working Class Readers, 1800-1900 Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Description

Beginning by mapping out an overview of the expansion of elementary education in Britain across the nineteenth century, Andrew Murphy explores the manner in which Shakespeare acquired a working-class readership.

He traces developments in publishing which meant that editions of Shakespeare became ever cheaper as the century progressed.

Drawing on more than a hundred published and manuscript autobiographical texts, the book examines the experiences of a wide range of working-class readers.

Particular attention is focused on a set of radical readers for whom Shakespeare's work had a special political resonance.

Murphy explores the reasons why the playwright's working-class readership began to fall away from the turn of the century, noting the competition he faced from professional sports, the cinema, radio and television.

The book concludes by asking whether it matters that, in our own time, Shakespeare no longer commands a general popular audience.

Information

£37.99

 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information