Publication date:
27 July 2006Length of book:
254 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
226x180mm7x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739115428
Spirit, Soul, and City offers a new reading of Coriolanus, Shakespeare's most political play and the last of his great tragedies. Portraying the founding of the Roman republic and the life and soul of its legendary warrior, Coriolanus, the play brings to light not only the hidden working of Rome's mixed regime but the inherent tragic tensions in the soul's spirited tendency to strive to go beyond itself in order to be true to itself. Distinguished scholar Jan H. Blits provides a fresh interpretation of this rich, complex, and often perplexing play, combining meticulous detail and insightful breadth. Proceeding line-by-line through the play, this book reaches its conclusions by closely examining Shakespeare's text—his plot, characters, language, structure, allusions, puzzles, and other devices.
At a time when Shakespeare studies have earned notoriety for thesis-ridden impositions Blits offers a seasonable corrective. His allowing the plot of Coriolanus to determine the course of his commentary gives relief from partisan pleading combined with surer access to Shakespeare's thought as Blits invites us to observe moral and political implications of a dramatic argument in its unfolding Act by Act, scene by scene, line by line.