James Kuzner is Associate Professor of English at Brown University. He is the author of Shakespeare as a Way of Life and Open Subjects.

"This is broad and provocative thinking of the first order that promises to show how Shakespeare engages what remain some of the deepest questions concerning the human condition. Throughout the book, Kuzner reads Renaissance humanism, ethics, epistemology and theology in relation to their modern responses and redirections, reinvigorating historical study and theoretical discourse alike through the kinds of astute and creative cross-pollination that have made him such a distinctive voice on the scene of Renaissance studies." -- -Julia Reinhard Lupton University of California, Irvine "Shakespeare as a Way of Life is a thoughtful, meditative, beautifully written book that will interest readers of all critical stripes, whether their bent is toward history, theory, or close reading. Kuzner gives us poised and nuanced readings of his key Shakespearean works. Most of all, he makes a brilliant, original case for Shakespeare's carving out a new kind of skepticism, one that is his own and not classifiable as purely Pyrrhonian or Montaignean or proto-Cartesian." -- -Katherine Eggert University of Colorado, Boulder

• 1. Introduction: Shakespeare's Skeptical Practice and the Politics of Weakness 2. Ciceronian Skepticism and the Mind-Body Problem in Lucrece 3. "It stops me here": Love and Self-Control in Othello 4. The Winter's Tale: Faith in Law and the Law of Faith 5. Doubtful Freedom in The Tempest 6. Looking Two Ways at Once in Timon of Athens Epilogue: Shakespeare as a Way of Life Acknowledgments Notes Index

James Kuzner is Associate Professor of English at Brown University. He is the author of Shakespeare as a Way of Life and Open Subjects.

"This is broad and provocative thinking of the first order that promises to show how Shakespeare engages what remain some of the deepest questions concerning the human condition. Throughout the book, Kuzner reads Renaissance humanism, ethics, epistemology and theology in relation to their modern responses and redirections, reinvigorating historical study and theoretical discourse alike through the kinds of astute and creative cross-pollination that have made him such a distinctive voice on the scene of Renaissance studies." -- -Julia Reinhard Lupton University of California, Irvine "Shakespeare as a Way of Life is a thoughtful, meditative, beautifully written book that will interest readers of all critical stripes, whether their bent is toward history, theory, or close reading. Kuzner gives us poised and nuanced readings of his key Shakespearean works. Most of all, he makes a brilliant, original case for Shakespeare's carving out a new kind of skepticism, one that is his own and not classifiable as purely Pyrrhonian or Montaignean or proto-Cartesian." -- -Katherine Eggert University of Colorado, Boulder

• 1. Introduction: Shakespeare's Skeptical Practice and the Politics of Weakness 2. Ciceronian Skepticism and the Mind-Body Problem in Lucrece 3. "It stops me here": Love and Self-Control in Othello 4. The Winter's Tale: Faith in Law and the Law of Faith 5. Doubtful Freedom in The Tempest 6. Looking Two Ways at Once in Timon of Athens Epilogue: Shakespeare as a Way of Life Acknowledgments Notes Index

James Kuzner is Associate Professor of English at Brown University. He is the author of Shakespeare as a Way of Life and Open Subjects.

"This is broad and provocative thinking of the first order that promises to show how Shakespeare engages what remain some of the deepest questions concerning the human condition. Throughout the book, Kuzner reads Renaissance humanism, ethics, epistemology and theology in relation to their modern responses and redirections, reinvigorating historical study and theoretical discourse alike through the kinds of astute and creative cross-pollination that have made him such a distinctive voice on the scene of Renaissance studies." -- -Julia Reinhard Lupton University of California, Irvine "Shakespeare as a Way of Life is a thoughtful, meditative, beautifully written book that will interest readers of all critical stripes, whether their bent is toward history, theory, or close reading. Kuzner gives us poised and nuanced readings of his key Shakespearean works. Most of all, he makes a brilliant, original case for Shakespeare's carving out a new kind of skepticism, one that is his own and not classifiable as purely Pyrrhonian or Montaignean or proto-Cartesian." -- -Katherine Eggert University of Colorado, Boulder

• 1. Introduction: Shakespeare's Skeptical Practice and the Politics of Weakness 2. Ciceronian Skepticism and the Mind-Body Problem in Lucrece 3. "It stops me here": Love and Self-Control in Othello 4. The Winter's Tale: Faith in Law and the Law of Faith 5. Doubtful Freedom in The Tempest 6. Looking Two Ways at Once in Timon of Athens Epilogue: Shakespeare as a Way of Life Acknowledgments Notes Index