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Item Review of "Tragic conditions in Shakespeare: disinheriting the globe" by Paul A Kottman(Oxford University Press, 2010-05-27) Daalder, JoostProfessor Kottman has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking book. It addresses very major issues, in what is for the most part quite an original way, and I found much of what I read illuminating. His main concern is accurately described on the dust jacket: ‘According to Kottman, the lives of Shakespeare’s protagonists are conditioned by social bonds—kinship ties, civic relations, economic dependencies, political allegiances—that unravel irreparably.’ As a generalisation this seems rather strong: there are, of course, also plays which work towards harmony after what seemed tragic difficulties, or which in general aspire towards happy endings without much suffering en route. Indeed, even in the case of a bleak tragedy like King Lear surely Lear is reconciled to Cordelia at the end even though she is murdered, and social order will be re-established by Edgar. Nevertheless, there are, in Shakespeare, indeed many instances of bonds which do unravel.Item Review of "Hamlet and Japan" by Yoshiko Ueno, and "Otherwordly Hamlet" by John O'Meara(Oxford University Press, 1997) Daalder, JoostMuch of 'Hamlet and Japan' is, in fact, devoted to exactly such criticism as one might find in Western compilations offering recent approaches to a Shakespeare play.Item Shakespeare's attitude to gender in Macbeth(Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association, 1988-11) Daalder, JoostWith the new interest in 'women's studies' there has been a whole flurry of works devoted to the question whether Shakespeare in any significant way discriminated against - or in favour of - women.Item William Shakespeare: Othello(Flinders University English Discipline and South Australian English Teachers Association, 1991) Daalder, JoostOthello is not often thought of as a play primarily concerned with madness, yet that is what it is.Item The Text of “King Lear” 2.2.136-145 in the ‘Arden 3’ Edition(Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand, 2002) Daalder, JoostThis paper considers the nature of R. A. Foakes's approach to editing 'King Lear', and how the latest Arden edition may be improved so as to bring it closer to what Shakespeare is likely to have written.Item Review of "Puritans and Libertines: Anglo-French Literary Relations in the Reformation" by Richmond(Oxford University Press, 1984) Daalder, JoostReview of H.M. Richmond's book "Puritans and Libertines: Anglo-French Literary Relations in the Reformation" (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1981). This book, according to Daalder, is a disconcertingly uneven one, not least because its virtues and vices are not immediately easy to define.Item Shakespeare's "King Lear", 4.2.47-51(Heldref Publications, 2001) Daalder, JoostTwo versions of the IV.ii.47-51 passage are quoted from Alexander's and Foakes's editions because the editorial punctuation of the two texts clearly reflects two quite different interpretations of the passage: in the first, there is no punctuation mark after "come" in line 3, whereas in the second, there is. If we carefully reflect on the two seeming interpretations, it becomes apparent that only one of them actually makes sense, and the other one must be discarded. Daalder argues that, as a result, there should be no punctuation mark after come. Editors who add a punctuation mark as though the First Quarto has wrongly omitted it are in error, and they obscure the sense of the passage.Item Senecan Influence on Shylock's "Hath Not a Jew Eyes?" Speech(Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis group, 1984) Daalder, JoostIn this paper, Professor Daalder is at least as concerned with what he considers to be the beneficial impact of Seneca on Shakespeare (in one important speech), as with the mere fact of Shakespeare's debt to the Roman author.Item Review of "The Complete Poems" by Barnfield and Klawitter(Oxford University Press, 1993) Daalder, JoostA favourable review of "The Complete Poems" by Richard Barnfield, edited by George Klawitter (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1990). Daalder also briefly reviews "The Overthrow of the Gout and a Dialogue Betwixt the Gout and Christopher Ballista translated by Barnabe Googe from the Latin of Christopher Ballista", edited by Simon McKeown, and makes mention of "The Sixth Book of Virgil's 'Aeneid' translated and commented on by Sir John Harington (1604)", edited by Simon Cauchi. However, the primary focus of this review is Klawitter's edition of Barnfield's "Complete Poems".Item The Thatched Visor in "Much Ado About Nothing" and Viola's Beard in "Twelfth Night" [pre-print version](2004) Daalder, JoostIn this article, Daalder demonstrates that Shakespeare was capable of using the word "beard" as a euphemism for pubic hair, both male and female, and this fact is relevant to our interpretation of Don Pedro's "thatched" visor. We can feel confident that, just as Shakespeare knew the common usage of the word "beard" to suggest "pubic hair," he also knew — and, interestingly, could justifiably assume that his audience knew — that the word "thatch" could carry the same sense. Furthermore, in both the "Twelfth Night" passage and that from "Much Ado" Shakespeare exploits the fact that the image of a "beard" or "thatch" can refer to the pubic hair of either sex.Item The Pre-history of Beatrice and Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing"(Routledge, 2004) Daalder, JoostIn "Much Ado About Nothing", Shakespeare implies in a fascinating way that before the main action of the play there was what Daalder calls a 'pre-history', namely a story of an earlier involvement between Benedick and Beatrice. It is this `pre-history' which is examined and clarified here. The implied scenario logically fits in with – and is fundamental in presenting – Shakespeare's view of gender issues in "Much Ado".Item Shakespeare's "The Rape of Lucrece"(Heldref Publications, 1997) Daalder, JoostThere is at present a tendency in some criticism to argue that Lucrece is one of many women in sixteenth- and seventeenth century literature who, as Deborah G. Burks puts it in a recent essay, "have internalized th[e] sense of their own culpability for men's assaults on them." In this paper, Daalder states that Burks' reading is wrong. If the lines Burks focuses on are, instead, read as belonging to the stanza as a whole, they form part of a statement in which Lucrece unequivocally and clearheadedly accuses her attacker.Item Review of "Shakespeare and the Hunt: A Cultural and Social Study" by Edward Berry(Oxford University Press, 2001) Daalder, JoostA favourable review of Edward Berry's book, "Shakespeare and the Hunt", (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).Item Review of "Shakespeare and the Classics" edited by Martindale and Taylor(Oxford University Press, 2005) Daalder, JoostA favourable review of "Shakespeare and the Classics", edited by Charles Martindale and A.B. Taylor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).Item Review of "Defining Shakespeare: 'Pericles' as Test Case" by Macdonald Jackson(Oxford University Press, 2005) Daalder, JoostA favourable review of Macdonald P. Jackson's book, "Defining Shakespeare: 'Pericles' as Test Case", (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).Item Review of "Shakespeare's Legal Language: A Dictionary" by B J Sokol and Mary Sokol(Oxford University Press, 2001) Daalder, JoostReview of BJ and Mary Sokol's book, "Shakespeare's Legal Language: A Dictionary",(The Athlone Shakespeare Dictionary Series). London: Athlone Press, 2000.Item Perspectives of Madness in Twelfth Night(Routledge Press, a part of the Taylor and Francis group, 1997) Daalder, JoostShakespeare uses such words as 'mad' and 'madness' more often in Twelfth Night than in any of his other plays, so it is a reasonable assumption that he was interested in madness when he wrote it, and that this play will give us an idea of what he means by it. Interestingly, he never gives us a definition of the word 'madness' per se. As in other plays, we are left to work out the definition for ourselves, and the dramatist rather behaves as though the meaning is readily understood by all members of the audience. What, in fact, did Shakespeare mean by the term?Item Review of 'Drama and the Market in the Age of Shakespeare' by Douglas Bruster(Oxford University Press, 1995) Daalder, JoostReview of Douglas Bruster's book, 'Drama and the Market in the Age of Shakespeare' (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.Item Hamlet, Art and Practicality(Oxford University Press, 1990) Daalder, JoostThroughout Hamlet, the hero shows a persistent fascination with art. Daalder discusses how Hamlet's penchant for the dramatic explains much of his enigmatic and 'mad' behaviour in the play.Item Review of 'Hamlet and Japan' edited by Yoshiko Ueno(Oxford University Press, 1997) Daalder, JoostReview of 'Hamlet and Japan', edited by Yoshiko Ueno (vol.2 of The Hamlet Collection; New York, 1995). Additionally, Daalder also briefly discusses 'Otherwordly Hamlet' by John O'Meara, as a complementary work to 'Hamlet and Japan'.