Shakespeare’s Hobby-Horse and Early Modern Popular Culture

The book fills a niche in early modern scholarship, no such comprehensive treatment of hobby-horse allusions was published before.

Relevant dictionaries and glossaries in critical editions will be much helped by the book, because it contextualizes and often corrects traditional explanations for the word ‘hobby-horse.’

The comprehensive treatment of hobby-horse allusions, ranging from cultural history to theatrical, print productions and images allows for a fuller understanding of how popular culture worked in early modern England.

Comparative close readings of little known and canonical plays highlight differences between types of dramaturgical composition, and such conclusions may be useful for theatre practitioners even today.

The book caters for the interests of people coming from various fields: theatre, cultural history, literature, art history, folklore studies.

The book is written in an accessible language, guiding the reader informatively through a lot of early modern texts and concepts.