Professor Peter Holbrook
FAHA
Director, UQ Node, ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800)
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities
Professor of Shakespeare and English Renaissance Literature
School of Communication and Arts
Researcher biography
PhD Yale University, MPhil Yale University, MA (Hons) University of Melbourne, FAHA
Peter Holbrook’s research has focused on political, social, and philosophical aspects of English Renaissance literature, and on the influence of Shakespeare on diverse writers and thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including (for example) Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Hardy, and Philip Larkin. He is the author of English Renaissance Tragedy: Ideas of Freedom (London: Bloomsbury/Arden Shakespeare, 2015); Shakespeare’s Individualism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010); and Literature and Degree in Renaissance England: Nashe, Bourgeois Tragedy, Shakespeare (Newark N.J. and London: University of Delaware Press, 1994); and co-editor, with Paul Edmondson, of Shakespeare’s Creative Legacies: Artists, Writers, Performers, Readers (London: Bloomsbury/Arden Shakespeare, 2016). He is editor of a special issue of The Shakespearean International Yearbook entitled Shakespeare and Montaigne Revisited, and co-editor, with David Bevington, of The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
A listing of Peter Holbrook's engagement activities can be found here.
Publications
Books
Holbrook, Peter (2015). English Renaissance tragedy: ideas of freedom. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury/Arden Shakespeare.
Holbrook, Peter (2010). Shakespeare's individualism. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, U.S.A.: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511675980
Holbrook, Peter (1994). Literature and degree in Renaissance England: Nashe, bourgeois tragedy, Shakespeare. Newark, DE, United States: University of Delaware Press.
Book Chapters
Holbrook, Peter (2023). Chaucer, Geoffrey: Works: And twentieth/ twenty-first-century poetry. The Chaucer Encyclopedia. (pp. 356-358) Hoboken, NJ United States: Wiley.
Holbrook, Peter (2023). Eliot, T. S. The Chaucer Encyclopedia. (pp. 634-635) Hoboken, NJ United States: Wiley.
Holbrook, Peter (2020). The idea of communism in Shakespeare. The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Social Justice. (pp. 251-264) Bloomsbury Publishing Plc..
Holbrook, Peter (2020). Literature: the solicitation of the passions. The Routledge history of emotions in Europe: 1100-1700. (pp. 406-418) edited by Andrew Lynch and Susan Broomhall. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315190778-32
Holbrook, Peter (2017). Foreword. Ecstasy: baroque and beyond. (pp. 8-9) edited by Andrea Bubenik. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland Art Museum.
Holbrook, Peter (2017). Shakespeare and philosophy. The Shakespearean World. (pp. 512-527) edited by Jill L. Levenson and Robert Ormsby. New York, NY, United States: Routledge.
Holbrook, Peter (2017). Stevenson’s metaphysics. Robert Louis Stevenson and the great affair: movement, memory and modernity. (pp. 27-40) edited by Richard J. Hill. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315606712-3
Edmondson, Paul and Holbrook, Peter (2016). Introduction: great creating Shakespeare. Shakespeare's creative legacies: artists, writers, performers, readers. (pp. 1-7) edited by Paul Edmondson and Peter Holbrook. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Holbrook, Peter (2016). Materialist and Political Criticism. The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare. (pp. 1774-1781) edited by Bruce R. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holbrook, Peter (2015). Afterword. Renaissance of emotion: understanding affect in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. (pp. 264-272) edited by Richard Meek and Erin Sullivan. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press.
Holbrook, Peter (2015). Afterword. The Renaissance of emotion: understanding affect in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. (pp. 264-272) edited by Richard Meek and Erin Sullivan. Manchester, United Kingdom: Manchester University Press.
Holbrook, Peter (2015). Afterword. The Renaissance of emotion: understanding affect in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. (pp. 264-272) Manchester, United Kingdom: Manchester University Press.
Holbrook, Peter (2014). Foreword. Five centuries of melancholia. edited by Andrea Bubenik. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland Art Museum.
Holbrook, Peter (2014). Shakespeare, Montaigne, and classical reason. Shakespeare and Renaissance Ethics. (pp. 261-283) edited by Patrick Gray and John D. Cox. New York, NY United States: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107786158.016
Holbrook, Peter (2014). Nietzsche's Shakespeare. Shakespeare and Continental Philosophy. (pp. 76-93) edited by Jennifer Ann Bates and Richard Wilson. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
Holbrook, Peter (2013). Thomas Hardy. Scott, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy: Great Shakespeareans: Volume V. (pp. 139-182) Bloomsbury Publishing Plc..
Holbrook, Peter (2012). “Thy Servant Still”: Program Note. Royal Shakespeare Company production of King John. edited by Maria Aberg. Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom: Swan Theatre.
Holbrook, Peter (2011). Thomas Hardy. Scott, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy: Great Shakespeareans. (pp. 139-183) edited by Adrian Poole. London, United Kingdom: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Holbrook, Peter (2011). Shakespeare and poetry. The Edinburgh companion to Shakespeare and the arts. (pp. 37-48) edited by Mark Thornton Burnett, Adiran Streete and Ramona Wray. Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press. doi: 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748635238.003.0003
Holbrook, Peter (2010). Thomas Hardy. Great Shakespeareans: Set II. (pp. 141-84) Bloomsbury Publishing Plc..
Holbrook, Peter (2008). Shakespeare and self-creation. Shakespeare's Intellectual Background. (pp. 151-164) edited by Dahiya, Bhim S.. New Delhi: Viva Books Private Limited.
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Ian Fairweather: Vision and abandonment. Ian Fairweather: An Artist of the 21st Century. (pp. 5-10) edited by S. Alderton. NSW: Lismore Regional Gallery.
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Introduction. The Shakespearean International Yearbook: Special section, Shakespeare and Montaigne Revisited. (pp. 5-20) edited by Graham Bradshaw and Tom Bishop. Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate.
Holbrook, Peter (2003). Class X: Shakespeare, Class and the Comedies. A Companion to Shakespeare's Works, Volume III: The Comedies. (pp. 67-89) edited by R. Dutton and J. Howard. Oxford, England: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470996553.ch5
Holbrook, Peter (2003). Dark Shakespeare. The Shakespearean International Yearbook: Where are we now in Shakespearean studies?. (pp. 115-127) edited by Graham Bradshaw, John M. Mucciolo, Tom Bishop and Angus Fletcher. Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing.
Holbrook, Peter (2002). Shakespeare at the Birth of Historicism. The Touch of the Real: Essays in Early Modern Culture. (pp. 22-37) edited by P. Kelly. Crawley, WA: University of Western Australian Press.
Holbrook, Peter (1998). Jacobean pacifism and Jacobean masques. The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque. (pp. 67-87) edited by David Bevington and Peter Holbrook. Cambridge United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Bevington, David and Holbrook, Peter (1998). Introduction. Politics of the Stuart Court Masque. (pp. 1-20) edited by David Bevington and Peter Holbrook. Cambridge United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Journal Articles
Holbrook, Peter (2017). Review of Shakespeare and Early Modern Religion. Edited by DAVID LOEWENSTEIN and MICHAEL WITMORE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Illus. Pp. xii + 318. Shakespeare Quarterly, 68 (4), 395-396. doi: 10.1353/shq.2017.0043
Holbrook, Peter (2016). Review of James Knowles, Politics and Political Culture in the Court Masque (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Cahiers Elisabethains, 91 (91), 150-152. doi: 10.1177/0184767816663125d
Holbrook, Peter (2016). 'The reformation of emotions in the age of Shakespeare'. Modern Philology, 114 (2), E94-E96. doi: 10.1086/686932
Holbrook, Peter (2015). Hamlet and melancholy essay. Globe to Globe Hamlet
Peter Holbrook (2015). BOOK REVIEW. Radical Shakespeare: Politics and Stagecraft in the Early Career. Modern Philology: Critical and Historical Studies in Literature, Medieval through Contemporary, 113 (1), E26-E29.
Holbrook, Peter (2014). The Demonic: Literature and Experience. Review of English Studies, 65 (272), 931-933. doi: 10.1093/res/hgu039
Butler, Rex and Holbrook, Peter (2014). Preface. History of European Ideas, 40 (1), 1-2. doi: 10.1080/01916599.2013.784018
Holbrook, Peter (2013). Context and contextualisation: remarks on the work of Ian Hunter. History of European Ideas, 40 (1), 96-102. doi: 10.1080/01916599.2013.784039
Holbrook, Peter (2013). Tradition, authority, and innovation in literary teaching and learning. English in Australia, 48 (2), 79-89.
Holbrook, Peter (2012). Thinking with Shakespeare: Essays on politics and life. TLS: The Times Literary Supplement (5691), 28-28.
Holbrook, Peter (2011). Review of of A.D. Nuttall, Shakespeare the thinker. Modern Philology, 109 (1), E15-E20. doi: 10.1086/660271
Holbrook, Peter (2011). Endless mornings on endless faces: Shakespeare and Philip Larkin. Shakespeare Survey, 64, 328-339. doi: 10.1017/CCOL9781107011229.029
Holbrook, Peter (2009). Vulgar, sentimental, and liberal criticism: F.J. Furnivall and T.S. Eliot on Shakespeare and Chaucer. Modern Philology: Critical and Historical Studies in Literature, Medieval through Contemporary, 107 (1), 96-125. doi: 10.1086/605831
Holbrook, Peter (2009). Review: Shakespeare in Theory and Practice. The Times Literary Supplement, 207-207.
Holbrook, Peter (2007). What happened to Burke?. The Times Literary Supplement (5441), 11-12.
Holbrook, Peter (2007). Andrew Hadfield, Shakespeare and republicanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Review of English Studies, 58 (235), 404-406. doi: 10.1093/res/hgm033
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Shakespeare, 'The cause of the people', and The Chartist Circular 1839-1842. Textual Practice, 20 (2), 203-229. doi: 10.1080/09502360600703112
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Review of G. A. Sullivan, Patrick Cheney, and Andrew Hadfield, eds. Early Modern English Drama: A Critical Companion. Times Literary Supplement
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Review of Ros King, Cymbeline: constructions of Britain. Times Literary Supplement
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Shakespearean immoral individualism: The example of Gide. AUMLA: Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association, 106 (106), 149-161. doi: 10.1179/000127906805260202
Holbrook, Peter (2006). Review of Curtis Perry, Literature and Favouritism in Early Modern England. Times Literary Supplement
Holbrook, Peter (2005). An earthy Muse: Review of The First and Second Parts of King Edward IV by Thomas Heywood (edited by Richard Rowland). Times Literary Supplement, 25-25.
Holbrook, Peter (2005). Electroplate bard: Review of Victorian Shakespeare, 2 volumes edited by Gail Marshall and Adrian Poole. Times Literary Supplement, 26-26.
Holbrook, Peter (2005). Anne Wallace: Painting and awareness. Heat, 9, 139-160.
Holbrook, Peter (2004). William Shakespeare: 'The Merchant of Venice'. Australasian Drama Studies, 45, 180-183.
Holbrook, Peter (2004). Review of Shakespeare, Law and Marriage by B J Sokol and Mary Sokol. Times Literary Supplement, 28-29.
Holbrook, Peter (2004). In Brief: Book Review of 'Hamlet' and the Visual Arts, 1709-1900 by Alan R. Young. Tls-The Times Literary Supplement (5257), 28-28.
Holbrook, Peter (2003). Shakespeare as a force for good. Shakespeare Survey, 56 (56), 203-214.
Holbrook, Peter (2001). Poetry and Sadness. HEAT, One, 133-143.
Holbrook, Peter (2000). The left and 'King Lear'. Textual Practice, 14 (2), 343-362. doi: 10.1080/09502360050082659
Holbrook, Peter (1999). Review of Geoffrey H Hartman: The Faceful Question of Culture. AUMLA: A Journal of the Australasian University Language & Literature Assn, 92 (November), 145-147.
Holbrook, Peter (1999). Review of R. S. White, 'Natural Law in English Renaissance Literature'. Southern Review, 32 (1), 94-97.
Conference Paper
Holbrook, Peter (2017). Stevenson's metaphysics. Robert Louis Stevenson Conference on Stevenson, Time and History (RLS), Sydney, Australia, 8-10 July 2013.
Creative Work
Holbrook, Peter and Ashburner, Xanthe (2016). Shakespeare unfinished. Perth, Australia: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.
Newspaper Articles
Holbrook, Peter (2016, 04 22). We can replicate Shakespeare’s educational utopia The Australian
Holbrook, Peter (2016, 02 26). Letter to a Student Sydney Review of Books
Holbrook, Peter (2012, 09 14). Rev. of Richard Strier, The Unrepentant Renaissance Times Literary Supplement
Holbrook, Peter (2011, 10 05). Writing and freedom: reading as a radical act The Australian Literary Review 12-13.
Holbrook, Peter (2009, 05 22). 'About love' by Peter Holbrook, reviewing Catherine Belsey's book 'Shakespeare in theory and practice' The Times literary supplement 207-207.
Holbrook, Peter (2007, 08 01). Lost literature refound The Australian: The heart of the nation
Holbrook, Peter (2007, 07 13). “What Happened to Burke?” Times Literary Supplement 11-12.
Holbrook, Peter (2006, 12 01). Peter Holbrook: Literary paradise may soon be lost The Australian: The heart of the nation
Holbrook, Peter (2006, 12 01). On your own with life's hard questions Australian Financial Review 4-5.
Holbrook, Peter (2005, 02 19). A man of his time: Review of Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt The Courier Mail M08-M08.
Holbrook, Peter (2004, 10 08). Review of David Riggs, The World of Christopher Marlowe & Frank Kermode, The Age of Shakespeare The Australian Financial Review
Holbrook, Peter (2003, 10 24). Review of Martin Amis, "Yellow Dog" The Australian Financial Review
Holbrook, Peter (2003, 07 11). Review of James Wood "The Book Against God" The Australian Financial Review