Shakespearean Charity and the Perils of Redemptive Performance
Shakespearean Charity and the Perils of Redemptive Performance
£18.00
GBPThis Element examines recent documentaries depicting marginalized youth who are ostensibly redeemed by their encounters with Shakespeare. These films emerge in response to four historical and discursive developments: the rise of reality television and its emphasis on the emotional transformation of the private individual; the concomitant rise of neoliberalism and emotional capitalism, which employ therapeutic discourses to individualize social inequality; the privatization of public education and the rise of so-called “no-excuses” or “new paternalist” charter schools; and the emergence of new modes of address infusing evangelical conversion narratives with a therapeutic self-help ethos.
Reviews & endorsements
'The book offers fascinating glimpses into the uses and abuses of the arts in a capitalist 'self-help' culture'. Molly Clark, The Times Literary Supplement
'… slim and sharp-edged … At under 100 pages, its short format is unusual and welcome.' William N. West, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900
Product details
April 2020Paperback
9781108743167
112 pages
127 × 180 × 8 mm
0.12kg
9 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Genre trouble: between fiction, documentary and reality television
- 2. Pedagogy under emotional capitalism
- 3. Self-help culture and the new paternalism
- 4. Character education and spiritual-therapeutic conversion narratives
- Conclusion
