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The Romantics invented Shakespeare studies, and in losing contact with our origins, we have not been able to develop an adequate alternative foundation on which to build our work. This book asserts that among Shakespeareans at present, the level of conviction required to sustain a healthy critical practice is problematically if not dangerously low, and the qualities which the Romantics valued in an engagement with Shakespeare are either ignored these days or fundamentally misunderstood.

Shakespeare Studies Today: Romanticism Lost

PART I: DISCIPLINE AND DESIRE Return of the Aesthetic? Negative Desire: Materialism and its Discontents PART II: WHAT'S WRONG WITH LITERATURE? New Theatricalism: The Repudiation of Literary Interest New Textualism: Crisis in Editing PART III: ROMANTICISM LOST Formalism: The Question of Romantic Anti-Theatricalism Romantic Authorship, Post-Romantic Professionalism