Background
Greenblatt, Stephen J. was born on November 7, 1943 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Harry J. and Mollie (Brown) Greenblatt.
( Renaissance Self-Fashioning is a study of sixteenth-cen...)
Renaissance Self-Fashioning is a study of sixteenth-century life and literature that spawned a new era of scholarly inquiry. Stephen Greenblatt examines the structure of selfhood as evidenced in major literary figures of the English Renaissance—More, Tyndale, Wyatt, Spenser, Marlowe, and Shakespeare—and finds that in the early modern period new questions surrounding the nature of identity heavily influenced the literature of the era. Now a classic text in literary studies, Renaissance Self-Fashioning continues to be of interest to students of the Renaissance, English literature, and the new historicist tradition, and this new edition includes a preface by the author on the book's creation and influence. "No one who has read Greenblatt's accounts of More, Tyndale, Wyatt, and others can fail to be moved, as well as enlightened, by an interpretive mode which is as humane and sympathetic as it is analytical. These portraits are poignantly, subtly, and minutely rendered in a beautifully lucid prose alive in every sentence to the ambivalences and complexities of its subjects."—Harry Berger Jr., University of California, Santa Cruz
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( Marvelous Possessions is a study of the ways in which E...)
Marvelous Possessions is a study of the ways in which Europeans of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period represented non-European peoples and took possession of their lands, in particular the New World. In a series of innovative readings of travel narratives, judicial documents, and official reports, Stephen Greenblatt shows that the experience of the marvelous, central to both art and philosophy, was cunningly yoked by Columbus and others to the service of colonial appropriation. He argues that the traditional symbolic actions and legal rituals through which European sovereignty was asserted were strained to the breaking point by the unprecedented nature of the discovery of the New World. But the book also shows that the experience of the marvelous is not necessarily an agent of empire: in writers as different as Herodotus, Jean de Léry, and Montaigne—and notably in Mandeville's Travels, the most popular travel book of the Middle Ages—wonder is a sign of a remarkably tolerant recognition of cultural difference. Marvelous Possession is not only a collection of the odd and exotic through which Stephen Greenblatt powerfully conveys a sense of the marvelous, but also a highly original extension of his thinking on a subject that has occupied him throughout his career. The book reaches back to the ancient Greeks and forward to the present to ask how it is possible, in a time of disorientation, hatred of the other, and possessiveness, to keep the capacity for wonder from being poisoned? "A marvellous book. It is also a compelling and a powerful one. Nothing so original has ever been written on European responses to 'The wonder of the New World.'"—Anthony Pagden, Times Literary Supplement "By far the most intellectually gripping and penetrating discussion of the relationship between intruders and natives is provided by Stephen Greenblatt's Marvelous Possessions."—Simon Schama, The New Republic "For the most engaging and illuminating perspective of all, read Marvelous Possessions."—Laura Shapiro, Newsweek
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( Stephen Greenblatt has been at the center of a major sh...)
Stephen Greenblatt has been at the center of a major shift in literary interpretation toward a critical method that situates cultural creation in history. Shakespearean Negotiations is a sustained and powerful exemplification of this innovative method, offering a new way of understanding the power of Shakespeare's achievement and, beyond this, an original analysis of cultural process.
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( Stephen Greenblatt argued in these celebrated essays th...)
Stephen Greenblatt argued in these celebrated essays that the art of the Renaissance could only be understood in the context of the society from which it sprang. His approach - 'New Historicism' - drew from history, anthropology, Marxist theory, post-structuralism, and psychoanalysis and in the process, blew apart the academic boundaries insulating literature from the world around it. Learning to Curse charts the evolution of that approach and provides a vivid and compelling exploration of a complex and contradictory epoch.
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(Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential practit...)
Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential practitioners of new historicism. This Reader makes available in one volume Greenblatt's most important writings on culture, Renaissance studies, and Shakespeare. It also features occasional pieces on subjects as diverse as story-telling and miracles, demonstrating the range of his cultural interests. Taken together, the texts collected here dispel the idea that new historicism is antithetical to literary and aesthetic value.
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('And there I found very many islands filled with people i...)
'And there I found very many islands filled with people innumerable, and of all of them I have taken possession for their highnesses, by proclamation made and with the royal standard unfurled, and no one contradicted me' - Christopher Columbus Marvelous Possessions is a study of the ways in which Europeans of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period represented non-European peoples and took possession of their lands, in particular the New World. In a series of innovative readings of travel narratives, judicial documents, and official reports, Greenblatt shows that the experience of the marvelous, central to both art and philosophy, was cunningly yoked by Columbus and others to the service of colonial appropriation. He argues that the traditional symbolic actions and legal rituals through which European sovereignty was asserted were strained to breaking-point by the unprecedented nature of the discovery of the New World. But the book also shows that the experience of the marvelous is not necessarily an agent of empire: in writers as different as Herodotus, Jean de Lery, and Montaigne - and notably in Mandeville's Travels, the most popular travel book of the Middle Ages - wonder is the sign of a remarkably tolerant recognition of cultural difference.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198122667/?tag=2022091-20
( Stephen Greenblatt sets out to explain his longtime fas...)
Stephen Greenblatt sets out to explain his longtime fascination with the ghost of Hamlet's father, and his daring and ultimately gratifying journey takes him through surprising intellectual territory. It yields an extraordinary account of the rise and fall of Purgatory as both a belief and a lucrative institution--as well as a capacious new reading of the power of Hamlet. In the mid-sixteenth century, English authorities abruptly changed the relationship between the living and dead. Declaring that Purgatory was a false "poem," they abolished the institutions and banned the practices that Christians relied on to ease the passage to Heaven for themselves and their dead loved ones. Greenblatt explores the fantastic adventure narratives, ghost stories, pilgrimages, and imagery by which a belief in a grisly "prison house of souls" had been shaped and reinforced in the Middle Ages. He probes the psychological benefits as well as the high costs of this belief and of its demolition. With the doctrine of Purgatory and the elaborate practices that grew up around it, the church had provided a powerful method of negotiating with the dead. The Protestant attack on Purgatory destroyed this method for most people in England, but it did not eradicate the longings and fears that Catholic doctrine had for centuries focused and exploited. In his strikingly original interpretation, Greenblatt argues that the human desires to commune with, assist, and be rid of the dead were transformed by Shakespeare--consummate conjurer that he was--into the substance of several of his plays, above all the weirdly powerful Hamlet. Thus, the space of Purgatory became the stage haunted by literature's most famous ghost. This book constitutes an extraordinary feat that could have been accomplished by only Stephen Greenblatt. It is at once a deeply satisfying reading of medieval religion, an innovative interpretation of the apparitions that trouble Shakespeare's tragic heroes, and an exploration of how a culture can be inhabited by its own spectral leftovers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691102570/?tag=2022091-20
(A Yale Honors senior's book, comparative literature of En...)
A Yale Honors senior's book, comparative literature of English authors: Waugh, Orwell, Huxley. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976 Eighth Printing. 5.5" x 8.75" tall; xi, 125 pages with Index.
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( In Hamlet in Purgatory, renowned literary scholar Steph...)
In Hamlet in Purgatory, renowned literary scholar Stephen Greenblatt delves into his longtime fascination with the ghost of Hamlet's father, and his daring and ultimately gratifying journey takes him through surprising intellectual territory. It yields an extraordinary account of the rise and fall of Purgatory as both a belief and a lucrative institution--as well as a capacious new reading of the power of Hamlet. In the mid-sixteenth century, English authorities abruptly changed the relationship between the living and dead. Declaring that Purgatory was a false "poem," they abolished the institutions and banned the practices that Christians relied on to ease the passage to Heaven for themselves and their dead loved ones. Greenblatt explores the fantastic adventure narratives, ghost stories, pilgrimages, and imagery by which a belief in a grisly "prison house of souls" had been shaped and reinforced in the Middle Ages. He probes the psychological benefits as well as the high costs of this belief and of its demolition. With the doctrine of Purgatory and the elaborate practices that grew up around it, the church had provided a powerful method of negotiating with the dead. The Protestant attack on Purgatory destroyed this method for most people in England, but it did not eradicate the longings and fears that Catholic doctrine had for centuries focused and exploited. In his strikingly original interpretation, Greenblatt argues that the human desires to commune with, assist, and be rid of the dead were transformed by Shakespeare--consummate conjurer that he was--into the substance of several of his plays, above all the weirdly powerful Hamlet. Thus, the space of Purgatory became the stage haunted by literature's most famous ghost. This book constitutes an extraordinary feat that could have been accomplished by only Stephen Greenblatt. It is at once a deeply satisfying reading of medieval religion, an innovative interpretation of the apparitions that trouble Shakespeare's tragic heroes, and an exploration of how a culture can be inhabited by its own spectral leftovers. This expanded Princeton Classics edition includes a new preface by the author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691160244/?tag=2022091-20
( Stephen Greenblatt, esteemed scholar and General Editor...)
Stephen Greenblatt, esteemed scholar and General Editor of the newly published Eighth Edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, brings Shakespeare’s world alive in this acclaimed biography, now available as a college paperback with 12 color plates and access to online commentary and discussion questions. Interweaving a searching account of Elizabethan England with a vivid narrative of Shakespeare’s life, Greenblatt reveals in lively, accessible prose how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life―full of drama and pageantry, and also cruelty and danger―could have become the most important playwright of all time. Will in the World can be packaged with The Norton Shakespeare (one-volume cloth or separate genre volumes in any configuration) for only $5 net. Contact your local Norton representative for more information.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393928802/?tag=2022091-20
literature and language professor writer
Greenblatt, Stephen J. was born on November 7, 1943 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Harry J. and Mollie (Brown) Greenblatt.
Bachelor, Yale University, 1964. Master of Philosophy, Yale University, 1968. Doctor of Philosophy, Yale University, 1969.
Bachelor, Pembroke College, University Cambridge, England, 1966. Master of Arts, Pembroke College, University Cambridge, England, 1969.
Assistant professor Department English University California, Berkeley, 1969—1974, associate professor, 1974—1979, professor, 1979—1997, The Class of 1932 Professor, 1984—1997. Harry Levin Professor Literature Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1997—2000, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, since 2000. Resident American Academy in Rome, 2010.
Senior fellow Society for Humanities Cornell University, 1983. Visiting professor Institute Advanced Study Berlin, 1996-1997, 2003-2004, University California, Santa Cruz, 1981, University Peking, Beijing, 1982, Harvard University, 1990—1994, University Trieste, Italy, 1991, Dartmouth University, 1992, University Florence, 1992, 1996, University Torino, Italy, 1998, Kyoto University, Japan, 1998, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University London, 1999.
('And there I found very many islands filled with people i...)
( Stephen Greenblatt, esteemed scholar and General Editor...)
( In Hamlet in Purgatory, renowned literary scholar Steph...)
( Marvelous Possessions is a study of the ways in which E...)
( Stephen Greenblatt sets out to explain his longtime fas...)
( Stephen Greenblatt argued in these celebrated essays th...)
( Stephen Greenblatt argued in these celebrated essays th...)
( Stephen Greenblatt has been at the center of a major sh...)
( Renaissance Self-Fashioning is a study of sixteenth-cen...)
(The author is a pioneer of "new historicism" - a form of ...)
(A Yale Honors senior's book, comparative literature of En...)
(Stephen Greenblatt is one of the most influential practit...)
(Renaissance Self-Fashioning : From More to Shakespeare by...)
Fellow: American Academy Arts Sciences. Member: American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Married Ellen Schmidt, 1969 (divorced 1996). Children: Joshua, Aaron. Married Ramie Targoff.
1 child Harry.