Shakespeare for the People
Working Class Readers, 1800–1900

Explores the manner in which Shakespeare acquired a working-class readership during the nineteenth century.

Andrew Murphy (Author)

9780521176552, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 September 2010

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

Review of the hardback: 'There are many fascinating stories … in Andrew Murphy's readable and scholarly history.' Around the Globe

Beginning by mapping out an overview of the expansion of elementary education in Britain across the nineteenth century, Andrew Murphy explores the manner in which Shakespeare acquired a working-class readership. He traces developments in publishing which meant that editions of Shakespeare became ever cheaper as the century progressed. Drawing on more than a hundred published and manuscript autobiographical texts, the book examines the experiences of a wide range of working-class readers. Particular attention is focused on a set of radical readers for whom Shakespeare's work had a special political resonance. Murphy explores the reasons why the playwright's working-class readership began to fall away from the turn of the century, noting the competition he faced from professional sports, the cinema, radio and television. The book concludes by asking whether it matters that, in our own time, Shakespeare no longer commands a general popular audience.

Introduction
1. The educational background
2. The publishing background
3. Reading
4. Political Shakespeare
5. Decline and fall
Afterword
Appendix 1: Autobiographers by year of birth
Appendix 2: Autobiographers listed alphabetically
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Publishing industry & book trade [KNTP], Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literature & literary studies [D]