Coriolanus

Critical Essays

David Wheeler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138850194
• eBook ISBN: 9781317532224
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Originally published in 1995. Providing the most influential historical criticism, but also some contemporary pieces written for the volume, this collection includes the most essential study and reviews of this tragic play. The first part contains critical articles arranged chronologically while the second part presents reviews of stage performances from 1901 to 1988 from a variety of sources. Chapters chosen are representative of their given age and critical approach and therefore show the changing responses and the topics that interested critics in the play through the years. Coriolanus is an unsympathetic character and the play has been traditionally less popular than other tragedies - a comprehensive introduction by the editor discusses these attitudes to the play and the reasons behind them.

CORIOLANUS

Critical Essays

Edited by David Wheeler

GARLAND PUBLISHING, Inc.

New York & London/1995

Copyright ©1995 David Wheeler

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Coriolanus : critical essays / edited by David Wheeler

p. cm. — (Shakespeare criticism ; vol. 11)

(Garland reference library of the humanities ; vol. 1646)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-8153-1057-9

DOI: 10.4324/9781315724867

1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Coriolanus. 2. Coriolanus, Cnaeus Marcius—In literature. 3. Rome—In literature.

I. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. II. Wheeler, David, 1950– III. Series. IV. Series: Shakespeare criticism ; vol. 11.

PR2805.C68 1995

822.3’3—dc20

94-30211

Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

1. General Editor’s Introduction
2. Acknowledgments
3. Introduction
4. David Wheeler
5. “Dedication to The Ingratitude of a Common-Wealth,” 1682
6. Nahum Tate
7. “The Argument of Coriolanus,” 1710
8. Charles Gildon
9. “‘Advertisement’ to Coriolanus,” 1755
10. Thomas Sheridan
11. “Coriolanus” (from The Examiner, 15 December 1816)
12. William Hazlitt
13. From Lecture XXVI, “Criticisms on Shakespeare’s Historical Dramas,” 1846
14. August Wilhelm von Schlegel
15. From A Study of Shakespeare, 1880
16. Algernon Charles Swinburne
17. “Coriolanus” (British Academy Lecture, 1912)
18. A.C. Bradley
19. “Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: Elizabethan Soldier,” 1949
20. Paul A. Jorgensen
21. “Coriolanus,” 1965
22. Tyrone Guthrie
23. “Coriolanus: Wordless Meanings and Meaningless Words,” 1966
24. James L. Calderwood
25. “Coriolanus: The Anxious Bridegroom,” 1968
26. Emmett Wilson, Jr.
27. “‘Antony and Cleopatra’ and ‘Coriolanus,’ Shakespeare’s Heroic Tragedies: A Jacobean Adjustment,” 1973
28. J.L. Simmons
29. “Coriolanus,” 1974
30. Lawrence Danson
31. “‘There is a world elsewhere’: Tragedy and History in Coriolanus,” 1976
32. Patricia K. Meszaros
33. “Coriolanus and Stavisky: The Interpenetration of Art and Politics,” 1986
34. Felicia Hardison Londré
35. “Annihilating Intimacy in Coriolanus,” 1986
36. Madelon Sprengnether
37. “Coriolanus’s Stage Imagery on Stage, 1754–1901,” 1987
38. John Ripley
39. “Coriolanus: Body Politic and Private Parts,” 1990
40. Zvi Jagendorf
41. “Drama, Politics, and the Hero: Coriolanus, Brecht, and Grass,” 1990/91
42. Martin Scofield
43. “To Their Own Purpose: The Treatment of Coriolanus in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” 1994
44. David Wheeler
45. “Shifting Masks, Roles, and Satiric Personae: Suggestions for Exploring the Edge of Genre in Coriolanus,” 1994
46. Karen Aubrey
47. “‘On Both Sides More Respect’: A Very British Coriolanus,” 1994
48. S.K. Bedford
49. Illustrations
50. Reviews
51. 1901 London Production with Sir Henry Irving
52. The Athenaeum
53. Saturday Review
54. 1933 Paris Production
55. The New York Times
56. 1954 New York Production
57. The Nation
58. The New York Times
59. The New York Times
60. 1959 Stratford Production, with Laurence Olivier
61. The New York Times
62. 1965 New York Production
63. The New York Times
64. Shakespeare Quarterly
65. Commonweal
66. 1979 New York Production
67. The Village Voice
68. New York Magazine
69. 1985 London Production
70. Newsweek
71. The New York Times
72. 1988 New York Production
73. Shakespeare Quarterly
74. The New Republic
75. The New York Review of Books
76. The Nation

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Title Page 1
• Copyright Page 1
• Contents
• General Editor’s Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• “Dedication to The Ingratitude of a Common-Wealth,” 1682
• “The Argument of Coriolanus,” 1710
• “‘Advertisement’ to Coriolanus,” 1755
• “Coriolanus” (from The Examiner, 15 December 1816)
• From Lecture XXVI, “Criticisms on Shakespeare’s Historical Dramas,” 1846
• From A Study of Shakespeare, 1880
• “Coriolanus” (British Academy Lecture, 1912)
• “Shakespeare’s Coriolanus: Elizabethan Soldier,” 1949
• “Coriolanus,” 1965
• “Coriolanus: Wordless Meanings and Meaningless Words,” 1966
• “Coriolanus: The Anxious Bridegroom,” 1968
• “‘Antony and Cleopatra’ and ‘Coriolanus,’ Shakespeare’s Heroic Tragedies: A Jacobean Adjustment,” 1973
• “Coriolanus,” 1974
• “‘There is a world elsewhere’: Tragedy and History in Coriolanus,” 1976
• “Coriolanus and Stavisky: The Interpenetration of Art and Politics,” 1986
• “Annihilating Intimacy in Coriolanus,” 1986
• “Coriolanus’s Stage Imagery on Stage, 1754–1901,” 1987
• “Coriolanus: Body Politic and Private Parts,” 1990
• “Drama, Politics, and the Hero: Coriolanus, Brecht, and Grass,” 1990/91
• “To Their Own Purpose: The Treatment of Coriolanus in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century,” 1994
• “Shifting Masks, Roles, and Satiric Personae: Suggestions for Exploring the Edge of Genre in Coriolanus,” 1994
• “‘On Both Sides More Respect’: A Very British Coriolanus,” 1994
• Illustrations
• Reviews