2004 is the quatercentenary of the death of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. This collection of 39 essays is published in celebration of his life and achievements.Oxford, a key figure of the English Renaissance, at the heart of Elizabethan court and cultural events, has a substantial claim to authorship of the works of 'Shakespeare'. There is an increasingly recognised problem in relating the life of the man from Stratford to the knowledge and cast of mind displayed in the works which now bear his name. This book is a benchmark for future disucssion and research in the Authorship debate.

Spiritual Shakespeares is the first book to explore the scope for reading Shakespeare spiritually in the light of contemporary theory and current world events. Ewan Fernie has brought together an exciting cast of critics in order to respond to the ‘religious turn’ in recent literary theory and to the spiritualized politics of terrorism and the ‘War on Terror’. Exploring a genuinely new perspective within Shakespeare Studies, the volume suggests that experiencing the spiritual intensities of the plays could lead us back to dramatic intensity as such. It tests spirituality from a political perspective, as well as subjecting politics to an unusual spiritual critique. Amongst its controversial and provocative arguments is the idea that a consideration of spirituality might point the way forward for materialist criticism. Reaching across and beyond literary studies to offer challenging and powerful contributions from leading scholars, this book offers unique readings of some very familiar plays.