Shakespeare went through a transition in the 18th century from a playwright requiring improvement to a national poet whose every word was sacred. Scholars have studied this movement through adaptations, criticism and editing, but have overlooked the role of fiction. Rumbold shows us the prevalence and importance of fictional characters' direct quotations from Shakespeare. The novel as art form and Shakespeare as icon developed cultural authority together through this period, each underwriting the other. An entire chapter on Austen, and an entire chapter on Radcliffe's Gothic Epigraphs, Quotation Culture, Shakespeare's Novel Authority, and Banal Shakespeare. Originally published in hardcover in 2016. Cambridge University Press. 2018. Paper. NEW. $24.00