Shakespeare the Bodger: Ingenuity, Imitation and the Arts of the Winter's Tale Hardcover - 2023

Investigates Shakespeare's mode of composition and the way contemporary psychology informs dramatic representation through ekphrasis Drawing inspiration from Robert Greene's deathbed attack on Shakespeare as 'an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers' Shakespeare the Bodger argues that Shakespeare's dramas are compositions of 'shreds and patches' pieced together by a mind of extraordinary synthetic acuity. Such patches include passages of dialogue that, as described in the sixteenth century, 'lead objects before our eyes' by means of ekphrasis. This book offers substantial art-historical research into the only visual artist named by Shakespeare, Giulio Romano - who performs an important role in The Winter's Tale. As well as a painter and architect, this study reveals Giulio as a designer of sculpture. Applying historical and theoretical materials to close readings, this study explores critical issues of The Winter's Tale including King Leontes' sudden fit of jealousy; Shakespeare's introduction of a surrogate playwright in the personification of Time and the Queen's statue 'coming to life' through an interactive declaration of faith. Joel B. Altman is Emeritus Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley. His publications include The Improbability of Othello: Rhetorical Anthropology and Shakespearean Selfhood (2010) and The Tudor Play of Mind: Rhetorical Inquiry and The Development of Elizabethan Drama (2018).