ABSTRACT
The Routledge Handbook of Shakespeare and Memory represents the scholarly state of the art, to be sure, but to place this volume in its necessary critical and historical context, in this chapter I survey this exciting and evolving field of study from roughly the new millennium to the present day. After the introduction, ‘From mnemonics to memory studies’, my discussion divides into two main sections, ‘Remembering and forgetting’ and ‘Materializing and embodying’, followed by a conclusion, ‘The future of memory and Shakespeare studies.’ Rather than attempting to be all-inclusive (a near impossibility, given the richness and range of emerging critical conversations), instead I try to provide a big picture of where Shakespeare and memory studies intersect, and to illuminate these important points of contact. While exploring the interdisciplinary nature of memory studies, and thus such varied topics as history, materiality, cognition, embodiment, performance, and pedagogy, I emphasize English literature broadly and Shakespeare’s writing specifically.
