Limited Shakespeare (Routledge Studies in Shakespeare)

Book Details

• Publisher: [Publisher Name, if provided]

• Author: Heffernan, Julián Jiménez

• Language: English

• Edition: 1

• ISBN: 9781032092805

• Pages: 264

• Cover: Paperback

• Dimensions: 9.0 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches

About The Book

Limited Shakespeare: The Reason of Finitude by Julián Jiménez Heffernan presents a unique and compelling approach to understanding the limitations present in Shakespeare's works. By exploring the forces that shape plot and meaning in his sonnets and five of his most famous plays, Heffernan highlights the poet's steadfast commitment to critical rationality, counteracting the overly romantic and phenomenological readings of Shakespeare’s world-making potential.

Heffernan critically examines the way Shakespeare’s works impose limits—on life, love, time, experience, and knowledge. Through plays like Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello, the book emphasizes Shakespeare’s ability to weave intricate and nuanced boundaries that reflect the complexities of human existence and the constraints of experience. These limitations, Heffernan argues, are shaped by both contingency and textual determinism, with the author’s almost ironic attraction to irrational, accidental, and error-driven boundaries becoming central to his artistic approach.

This thought-provoking work invites readers to reconsider contemporary views of Shakespeare’s legacy and offers fresh insights into the fundamental nature of his creative genius. A must-read for students, scholars, and enthusiasts of Shakespeare, this book challenges conventional interpretations and offers a richer understanding of the Bard’s work.