Shakespeare and the Idea of Late Writing

• Introduction; 1. Shakespeare and the idea of late writing; 2. The Shakespearean caesura: genre, chronology, style; 3. The invention of late Shakespeare: subjectivism and its discontents; 4. Last words / late plays: the possibility and impossibility of late Shakespeare in early modern culture and theatre; 5. How old is 'late'?: late Shakespeare, old age, King Lear; 6. The Tempest and the uses of late Shakespeare in the theatre: Gielgud, Rylance, Prospero.

Reviews of the hardback: 'Gordon McMullan's Shakespeare and the Idea of Late Writing is easily the best critical study of Shakespeare to appear this year. Packed with insights both theoretical and historical - and ranging from Edmond Malone to Henry James to Edward Said - it's the kind of book that literary scholars (as well as art and music historians) will want to keep close at hand.'  James Shapiro, Columbia University and author of 1599