Stuart Elden’s book Shakespearean Territories was published in late 2018 by University of Chicago Press. The book uses readings of a number of Shakespeare’s plays to explore different aspects of territory.

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. 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.

The book explores how Shakespeare can be read as developing a nuanced understanding of the complicated concept and practice of territory and, more broadly, the political-geographical relations between people, power, and place.

More details about the book can be found at the publisher website: https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo28246205.html