Cultural historian Rosenbaum gives readers a way of rethinking the greatest works of the human imagination, as he shakes up much that we thought we understood about a vital subject and renews our sense of excitement and urgency. Rather than raking over worn-out fragments of biography, Rosenbaum focuses on cutting-edge controversies about the true source of Shakespeare's enchantment and illumination--the astonishing language itself. He takes readers into the midst of fierce battles among the most brilliant Shakespearean scholars and directors over just how to delve deeper into the mind of Shakespeare. He makes ostensibly arcane textual scholarship seductive, and he shows us great directors as Shakespearean scholars in their own right. This book offers a thrilling opportunity to engage with Shakespeare's work at its deepest levels.--From publisher description.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [553]-568) and index.

Description based on print version record.

The bottom of Shakespeare's secrets The dream induction Civil Wars among the textual scholars One Hamlet or three? A digressive comic interlude featuring Shakespeare's ambiguously revised testimony in the wigmakers' lawsuit "Look there, look there ... ": the scandal of Lear's last words The war over what is-and what isn't-"Shakespearean" The great Shakespeare "funeral elegy" Fiasco The Indian, the Judean and Hand D The promise and perils of Shakespearean "Originalism" The search for the Shakespearean in a delicate pause

The spell of the Shakespearean in "original spelling" Dueling shylocks Shakespeare on film: a contrarian argument Three giants Peter Brook: the search for the secret play "You can't have him, Harold!": the battle over Bloom and Bloom's Falstaff Stephen Booth: 777 types of ambiguity Love, beauty, pleasure and bad weather in Bermuda Looking for love in As You Like It; looking for an orgasm in Romeo and Juliet "No cause": the unexpected pleasures of forgiveness.