Shakespeare and Fun: The Birth of Entertainment Value

In this bold, original study Hedrick proposes an early modern 'entertainment value' revolution, to which Shakespeare contributed and in which he played a competitive role.

As London's nascent capitalist industry developed and the variety of entertainments proliferated, theatre contributes to the birth of entertainment value and a commercial trajectory toward what Marxist critic Adorno theorizes as 'fun,' seen contemporaneously in LasVegasization and the election of Donald Trump to U.S. Presi...