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Thirty-two years after its first publication, Alternative Shakespeares stands as a landmark within Shakespeare studies. In 1985, at the height of the 'theory wars', the essays in the collection took a confrontational position, seeking to challenge the conventional ways of approaching England's national playwright. One early reader was a scholar with a considerable investment in the old ways of doing things: we recently discovered a heavily annotated copy of the book in the library of Harold Jenkins, the former general editor of the Arden Shakespeare. Harold Jenkins's copy of Alternative Shakespeares encourages us to reconstruct the historical contours of an intellectual confrontation, but our discovery also prompts thoughts for the present. Over the last few years, we have been in touch with the surviving contributors to the volume. Thirty years on, how do they feel about their essays? Do they stand by what they produced or would they now look to do things differently? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon's work on light to contribute a new element of humans' understanding of Bacon's thoughts about the natural world. Topics include the role of curiosity in motivating Bacon's philosophical speculations, Bacon's profound inquisitiveness about aspects of the world, and his lifelong concern with the capacities and limits of the senses.