Shakesqueer: A Queer Companion to the Complete Works of Shakespeare (Series Q)

Assigned reading in school. Did not care for the book, but the shipping was quick and the item came in condition as described by the seller. Very good service

If you still think that Queer Theory is the same as Gay and Lesbian Studies this is definitely not the book for you.You should buy this book only if you are familiar with contemporary Shakespeare Studies and non-sexual Queer Theory.Anachronistic in appearance but congruent in its logic, Madhavi Menon's Shakesqueer is a detailed exercise on how Queer Theory can be performed in literary studies of the English Renaissance. In this book you will not find neither deep analysis of the Shakespeare's text nor an extended theorization on the queer, but a powerful invitation to enter the obscure realm of queer thinking in action.This book covers a wide range of queer perspectives ranging from gender and performance, to disability and time.To some extent, this is a continuation to Jonathan Goldberg's  Queering the Renaissance (Series Q)

Frustrating! I opened this book with eager anticipation, expecting insights into (pre-)gay aspects of sexuality in Shakespeare's work and life. Alas it was not to be so. "Queer theory" is apparently only peripherally related to gay studies, and the articles here are often rather tenuously connected to either Shakespeare or gayness: we find an analysis of a Doctor Who episode, for example, and a discussion of John Wilkes Booth and his brothers. Some of the titles are witty and amusing (my favorite was "Putting the Anus Back into Coriolanus"), but the contents are so mired in postmodern jargon and theory that they are likely to leave all but the specialist in queer theory mystified."Shakesqueer" studies seem to have mushroomed from a small roundtable at the 2007 MLA convention into a popular field of study, and these essays will no doubt contribute to tenure or promotion for their authors, but the target audience is really other academic "queer theorists" (and their graduate students). If my experience is any guide, most educated general readers (gay or straight) will not find very much of interest.A personal note: I started reading this just after reading the latest issue of Funny Times newspaper, and found myself wondering if some or all of the articles were intended to be academic parodies. Perhaps that's the essence of the postmodern: you can't tell scholarship from parody.

This book makes a good, queer companion to Richard Burt's book, Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares and his essay "New Shakesesqueer Cinema" in Sh Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares, Revised Edition: Queer Theory and American Kiddie Culture akespeare the Movie.