Women’s transnational Shakespeare in Eighteenth century English literary criticism: Elizabeth Montagu, a case study

Moving from the recent debates on Shakespeare's reception, adaptation, remediation and appropriation, the essay focuses on the role of Elizabeth Montagu's On the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare, compared with the Greek and French dramatic Poets with some remarks upon the misrepresentations of Mons. De Voltaire, that she anonymously published in 1769. In particular, the essay is interested in the role that this text played as a space of empowerment for Montagu as a literary critic, and, in particular, as a crucial contribution within the rise of Shakespearean criticism on a national and international level. Montagu's text does not only take up an intense dialogue with the national debates on Shakespeare, but, more significantly, played a relevant part in the development of the international dispute on Shakespeare and helped to disseminate the idea of Shakespeare as a symbol that could transcend its national, linguistic, and temporal origins.