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Shakespeare and the Jews

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A new edition of the groundbreaking book that took full measure of how Jews were imagined in Shakespeare’s time.
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  • 08 March 2016
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First published in 1996, James Shapiro's pathbreaking analysis of the portrayal of Jews in Elizabethan England challenged readers to recognize the significance of Jewish questions in Shakespeare's day. From accounts of Christians masquerading as Jews to fantasies of settling foreign Jews in Ireland, Shapiro's work delves deeply into the cultural insecurities of Elizabethans while illuminating Shakespeare's portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. In a new preface, Shapiro reflects upon what he has learned about intolerance since the first publication of Shakespeare and the Jews.
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Price: $32.00
Pages: 320
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Publication Date: 08 March 2016
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780231178679
Format: Paperback
BISACs:

LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, RELIGION / Judaism / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General

What Shapiro shows convincingly is how deeply Shakespeare's play dug into the fantasies, anxieties and pleasures of its audience.
James Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University and a governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library. He is the author of several books, including The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 (2015) and 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (2005).

Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition
Acknowledgments
A Note on Texts
Introduction
1. False Jews and Counterfeit Christians
2. Myths, Histories, Consequences
3. The Jewish Crime
4. "The Pound of Flesh"
5. The Hebrew Will Turn Christian
6. Race, Nation, or Alien?
7. Shakespeare and the Jew Bill of 1753
Conclusion
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index