R.S. White

R.S. White is Australian Professorial Fellow (ARC), Winthrop Professor of English at UWA, and a Programme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. He has published extensively on Shakespeare and on the Romantics, his latest two books being Pacifism and English Literature: Minstrels of Peace (2001) and John Keats: A Literary Life (2010), both previously reviewed in ABR.

R.S. White reviews 'The King and I' by Philippa Kelly

September 2011, no. 334 • 23 August 2011

Literary critics used to adopt a persona claiming disinterested separation from the text being analysed. Critical theory, in particular post-colonial and gender studies, eroded this stance, showing that criticism is always self-interested, concealing or inadvertently revealing tacit assumptions stemming from the critic’s biography, class, gender, and political persuasions. As a result, it is com ... (read more)

RS White reviews 'Shakespeare, Sex, and Love' by Stanley Wells, 'Shakespeare’s Freedom' by Stephen Greenblatt, and 'Shakespeare’s Individualism' by Peter Holbrook

February 2011, no. 328 • 04 May 2011

One of Angelina Jolie’s first starring roles was as Shakespeare’s Juliet in Love Is All There Is (1996). Or rather, she plays Gina Malacici, a Bronx schoolgirl fiercely protected from life by her wealthy, restaurant-owning Italian parents, recruited to play Juliet in the school play when the leading actress injures herself falling off the balcony. Faced with her fleshy lips and fricative Itali ... (read more)