Shakespeare was an astute observer of contemporary life, culture, and
politics. The emerging practice of territory as a political concept and
technology did not elude his attention. In Shakespearean Territories,
Stuart Elden reveals just how much Shakespeare's unique historical
position and political understanding can teach us about territory.
Shakespeare dramatized a world of technological advances in measuring,
navigation, cartography, and surveying, and his plays open up important
ways of thinking about strategy, economy, the law, and colonialism,
providing critical insight into a significant juncture in history.
Shakespeare's plays explore many territorial themes: from the division
of the kingdom in King Lear, to the relations among Denmark, Norway,
and Poland in Hamlet, to questions of disputed land and the politics
of banishment in Richard II. Elden traces how Shakespeare developed a
nuanced understanding of the complicated concept and practice of
territory and, more broadly, the political-geographical relations
between people, power, and place. A meticulously researched study of
over a dozen classic plays, Shakespearean Territories will provide new
insights for geographers, political theorists, and Shakespearean
scholars alike.
