Shakespeare and the Idea of Apocrypha

Peter Kirwan is Assistant Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Nottingham. He is the co-editor of Shakespeare and the Digital World (with Christie Carson, Cambridge, 2014) and Associate Editor of William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays (2013). His work has appeared in Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Bulletin, Literature Compass, Philological Quarterly and many other journals and collections. He sits on the editorial board of Early Theatre and reviews editions for Shakespeare Survey.

• Introduction: the idea of Apocrypha; 1. Canonising the Apocrypha; 2. The Apocrypha in rep; 3. Defining 'Shakespeare'; 4. Apocryphising the canon; Epilogue: an apocryphal identity; Appendix; Works cited; Index.

'In this smart and timely book, Kirwan returns Shakespeare's apocryphal plays to their original habitat, namely, the repertory of a commercial playing company; thus relocated, the plays may be appraised as they were in their own time: on market value, not authorship.' Roslyn L. Knutson, University of Arkansas