Review: Shakespeare and Queer Theory (2019) by Melissa E. Sanchez

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:

Melissa E. Sanchez’ monograph, Shakespeare and Queer Theory (2019) , published in the Arden Shakespeare Series, is situated at the intersection of Shakespeare and Early Modern Studies with Queer Theory, foregrounding how these fields “are not only valuable in themselves, but mutually useful and illuminating” (2) and “have a lot to contribute to that collective project” (55). The idea of the book is to present “queerness as a mode of critique” (Halberstam 2011: 110 in Sanchez 2019: 150), and to explore how “[q]ueer theory reveals the queer within the normal and the ordinary [. . .] [as well as] the normal and the ordinary within the queer” (7). In this sense, Sanchez follows the path of other contributors to the debate, such as Menon (2008; 2011), and Stanivukovic (2017). The book is directed at students and scholars alike and provides a comprehensive introduction to the central concepts, as well as the historical background and origins of the debate. Sanchez furthermore presents the mutual benefit of the intersection of Shakespeare and Queer Theory by supplying her own analyses of several of Shakespeare’s works. Sanchez emphasises that “this book [is not offered] as the ‘truth’ . . . , but as one contribution to an ongoing, productively un wieldy conversation” (2) and “will [hopefully] not be the last word on either topic, but in its very limitations will catalyse newer, stranger theoretical work and political worlds” (178).