Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- 1. On Historical Understandings of Shakespeare's Works -- 2. Shakespeare and the Invention of Grand Comic Form -- 3. Shakespearean Comedic Myths -- 4. Biblical Story and Festival Enter Shakespearean Comedy -- 5. Empire and Conquest in the Comedies -- 6. Measure for Measure as Form, Myth, and Scripture -- And in Conclusion -- Notes -- Resources for Placing the Comedies in an Early Modern Frame -- Index.

"Soul of the age!" Ben Jonson eulogized Shakespeare, and in the next breath, "He was not of an age but for all time." That he was both "of the age" and "for all time" is, this book suggests, the key to Shakespeare's comic genius. In this engaging introduction to the First Folio comedies, Paul A. Olson gives a persuasive and thoroughly engrossing account of the playwright's comic transcendence, showing how Shakespeare, by taking on the great themes of his time, elevated comedy from a mere mid-level literary form to its own form of greatness-on par with epic and tragedy.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.