Margins
The Victorian Cult of Shakespeare book cover
The Victorian Cult of Shakespeare
Bardology in the Nineteenth Century
2020
First Published
3.00
Average Rating
246
Number of Pages

Part of Series

In the Victorian era, William Shakespeare's work was often celebrated as a sacred a sort of secular English Bible. Even today, Shakespeare remains a uniquely important literary figure. Yet Victorian criticism took on religious dimensions that now seem outlandish in retrospect. Ministers wrote sermons based upon Shakespearean texts and delivered them from pulpits in Christian churches. Some scholars crafted devotional volumes to compare his texts directly with the Bible's. Still others created Shakespearean societies in the faith that his inspiration was not like that of other playwrights. Charles LaPorte uses such examples from the Victorian cult of Shakespeare to illustrate the complex relationship between religion, literature and secularization. His work helps to illuminate a curious but crucial chapter in the history of modern literary studies in the West, as well as its connections with Biblical scholarship and textual criticism.
Avg Rating
3.00
Number of Ratings
1
5 STARS
0%
4 STARS
0%
3 STARS
100%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads

Author

548 Market St PMB 65688, San Francisco California 94104-5401 USA
© 2026 Paratext Inc. All rights reserved