Beyond a Common Joy

<p>In this engaging introduction to the 'First Folio' comedies Paul Olson gives a persuasive account of Shakespeare's comic transcendence showing how by taking on the great themes of his time he elevated comedy from a mere mid-level literary form to its own form of greatness on par with epic and tragedy.</p><p></p><p>Paul A. Olson is Kate Foster Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the author of several books including <em>The Kingdom of Science: Literary Utopianism and British Education 1612-1870</em> (Nebraska 2003) and <em>The Journey to Wisdom: Self-Education in Patristic and Medieval Literature</em> (Nebraska 1995).</p><p></p>