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

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). Investigates Shakespeare's mode of composition and the way contemporary psychology informs dramatic representation through ekphrasis Describes Shakespeare's own ingenuity and his dramatizations of ingenuity according to classical and renaissance accounts of this activityExplains and illustrates in his plays the function of fantasy in reading the external world, as described in contemporary psychologyParticipates in the current scholarly interest in the intertextuality of theatrical scriptsTraces Shakespeare's adaptations of the hybrid genre tragicomedy from his problem plays" to The Winter's Tale and demonstrates his use of the writings of Giraldi Cinzio and Battista Guarini to give unique shape to this late workDrawing inspiration from Robert Greene's deathbed attack on Shakespeare as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers," The Bodger (Elizabethan variant of "botcher," "mender," "patcher") 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. The 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 the alleged sculptor of a statue of the dead Queen. Giulio, heir to Raphael's workshop, is known primarily as a painter and architect. My research has revealed that he was also a designer of sculpture. Applying historical and theoretical materials to close readings of several plays, I focus on the most critical issues of The Winter's Tale --King Leontes' sudden fit of jealousy; Shakespeare's introduction of a surrogate playwright in the personification of Time, who refashions the play from tragedy to comedy, assisted by a behind-the-scenes female ghost writer; and the Queen's statue amazingly "coming to life" through an interactive declaration of faith. " Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Prologue: Introducing Shakespeare the Bodger 1. Shakespeare’s Ingenuity: Humanism, Materialism, and One Early Modern Self 2. “Your sorrow was too sore laid on”: Portraying the Subject of Ekphrasis 3. Julio at the Crossroads: Sex and Transfiguration in the Court of Sicilia 4. What Did Hermione’s Statue Look Like? The Four Ladies of Mantua and the Science of True Opinion 5. “A sad tale’s best for winter,” but for spring a comedy is better: Time, Turn, and Genre(s) in The Winter’s Tale Epilogue: Bodging Theatrical Faith Bibliography Index