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Investigates Macbeth's ability to immerse readers and audiences through macabre elements. Examines literalization of this immersion through Punchdrunk and Emursive's Sleep No More (2009, q.v.), immersive adaptation of Macbeth.
Considers representations of severed heads in drama, particularly in plays showing decapitations and subsequent reveal of severed head. Explores presentation of skulls as representative of severed heads, as in case of Yorick's skull in Hamlet. Argues severed head becomes "embodiment of the power of authority figures (not just the state) to destroy the enemy."
Investigates representation of maternal body's relationship to monstrosity in contemporary dramas. Considers "Gothic maternal" influence of Tamora from Titus Andronicus on modern-day representations of Gothic mothers.
Includes three essays on Shakespeare.
Traces history of Othello's citations, adaptations, and appropriations across media in "post-racial America (2008–2016)" defined as "a time and place imagined as having overcome racial injustice." Examines Othello's reanimations in podcasts, television, film, comic series, and performances to argue "representational choices perpetuate varying racial frameworks that advance antiblack or antiracist versions of the play."
Studies Lear in King Lear and Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure as "mad king" and "mad duke," respectively, arguing they show Shakespeare to be "ethical thinker of the 'originary scene,'" or moment "in which humans became conscious of themselves as symbol-using moral and narrative beings." Considers ethical predicament of plays in effort to offer new reading of Shakespeare as playwright and play's ethical conflicts. Foreword by Paul A. Kottman.
Discusses publication of Shakespeare's First Folio, focusing on various stationers and individuals involved in publication as evidenced by court records, manuscript letters, booksellers' bills, and texts' themselves. Reconsiders standard accounts of First Folio's early reception, and describes text's enduring legacy in field of Shakespeare studies.
Argues early modern figure of "rogue" (broad term for criminals, prostitutes, and vagrants) was understood not only through social marginality but also through "their supposedly excessive sexuality and prodigious sexual reproduction." Considers especially roguery, bastardy, and biopolitics in Winter's Tale.
Investigates playwright Thomas Kyd's contribution to and influence on development of Shakespeare's plays. Employs computational and traditional literary analysis to make case for Kyd's assistance in revising Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI, among others.
Traces literary history of "forgotten tradition" of sonnets by African American from nineteenth century to present. Considers influence of English writers like Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning on African American sonnet writers.