Generic innovation in Shakespeare and his contemporaries

Revises current thinking about how genre operates in early modern theatreDiscusses generic change and innovation across a broad range of genresDiscusses both well-known plays and lesser-known texts to make its case about genre and changePresents an historical account of generic changeThis book investigates generic change in early modern theatre across multiple genres, unlike much other scholarship, attempting to understand change and innovation in terms of competition within the dramatic field.

It draws on the work of Bakhtin and Bourdieu as well as theatre history, book history, and literary criticism to advance its argument about generic change and innovation.