A reavaliação da doutrina das unidades no Preface to Shakespeare (1765) : o prenúncio da ruptura com o Ancien Régime
Resumen
The objective of this dissertation is demonstrate by means of a dialectical reading of
Preface to Shakespeare (1765) by Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), that the reassessment
of the doctrine of the units (action, time and place) no solely unveil the breaking of the
English literary criticism with the classical aesthetic but the sign of a deep breaking of
the English capitalist society from the eighteenth century with Ancien Régime. The issue
(the reassessment of the doctrine of the units) consists in the defense that Johnson does
in favor of Shakespeare's plays against the censures of other neoclassical critics, these
influenced by French classicism. The defense that English critic undertook in favor of
the English poet‘s dramas against the reproaches of neoclassical critics anticipated the
rupture of the English criticism with the classical aesthetic. The proposal is treating of
the literary and philosophical aspects involved in the chief theme, at last to amplify the
horizon of reading through of the notions of structure of feeling by Raymond Williams
(1977) and political unconscious by Jameson (1992).