The link between psychoanalysis as a mode of interpretation and Shakespeare's works is well known. But rather than merely putting Shakespeare on the couch, Philip Armstrong focuses on the complex and fascinatingly fruitful mutual relationship between Shakespeare's texts and psychoanalytic theory. He shows how the theories of Freud, Rank, Jones, Lacan, Erikson, and others are themselves in a large part the product of reading Shakespeare.
Armstrong provides an introductory cultural history of the relationship between psychoanalytic concepts and Shakespearean texts.
This is played out in a variety of expected and unexpected contexts, including:
*the early modern stage
*Hamlet and The Tempest
*Freud's analytic session
*the Parisian intellectual scene
*Hollywood
*the virtual space of the PC.

About the Author
Philip Armstrong teaches at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is the author of Shakespeare's Visual Regime: Tragedy, Psychoanalysis and the Gaze, and has also published articles on New Zealand literature.

Reviews

I have personally purchased and studied every one of the new Accents on Shakespeare volumes in the new series edited by Terence Hawkes and repeatedly turn to them as resources for my own research and teaching. My students - graduate and undergraduate alike - find them invaluable, as I do. They are remarkably comprehensive, timely, and informative, and essential way to keep current with the fundamental ideas in Shakespearean criticism. - Arthur F. Kinney, Thomas W. Copeland Professor of Literary History, University of Massachusetts,

Accents on Shakespeare is shaping up as everything a streetwise series of books on the Bard should be:engaged, imaginative, heretical and occasionally outrageous. No one who aims to have their finger on the pulse of Shakespeare studies can afford to ignore it. - Kiernan Ryan Professor of English, Royal Holloway, University of London and Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge

' ... of interest to anyone engaged with the reinterpretation of Shakespeare through modern theories and modern media, this book is a solid and detailed analysis of it's subject.' - New Theatre Quarterly

'I have personally purchased and studied every one of the newAccents on Shakespeare volumes in the new series edited by Terence Hawkes and repeatedly turn to them as resources for my own research and teaching. My students - graduate and undergraduate alike - find them invaluable, as I do. They are remarkably comprehensive, timely, and informative, and essential way to keep current with the fundamental ideas in Shakespearean criticism.' - Arthur F. Kinney, Thomas W. Copeland Professor of Literary History, University of Massachusetts,

'Accents on Shakespeareis shaping up as everything a streetwise series of books on the Bard should be:engaged, imaginative, heretical and occasionally outrageous. No one who aims to have their finger on the pulse of Shakespeare studies can afford to ignore it.' - Kiernan Ryan Professor of English, Royal Holloway, University of London and Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge

Book Information
ISBN 9780415207225
Author Philip Armstrong
Format Paperback
Page Count 284
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 530g