Early modern tragedy and the cinema of violence /

Simkin (Univ. of Winchester, UK) offers here a provocative exploration of the shared traits of 17th-century revenge tragedies and their late-20th-century cinematic counterparts. More suggestive than definitive, the study uses a cultural-studies lens to expose commonalities across time period and genre--specifically, how gender and violence are depicted on stage or screen and how imaginary vigilantism responds to perceived failures of social justice. Simkin's tripartite structure includes 12 short comparative chapters that build on each other but also could stand alone. This format will prove useful for those wishing to focus on one of the book's sections but frustrating to those in search of a unified argument. The book has much to offer, especially chapters on the disturbing erotics of watching violence against women and analysis of movies like Straw Dogs, Enough, and Kill Bill (and their problematic heroines). Simkin's pairing of two disparate historical moments, and refusal to disclose any singular truth about need for revenge fantasies, challenges readers to see the "transhistoricism" of imagined violence. Written in accessible, jargon-free prose, this book will interest those in film studies, theater studies, and English literature. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-/upper-division undergraduates and above. H. R. Hayton Guilford College