Repositioning Shakespeare: National Formations, Postcolonial Appropriations

by Thomas Cartelli

Overview

Repositioning Shakespeare offers an original assessment of a broad range of texts and cultural events that appropriate Shakespeare. Examining these materials within the context of 'the nation' in a postcolonial era, Thomas Cartelli considers:
* essays by Walt Whitman
* the nineteenth-century play, 'Jack Cade'
* novels by Aphra Behn, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Michelle Cliff, Tayeb Salih, Nadine Gordimer and Robert Stone
* the 1849 Astor Place Riot
Cartelli places particular emphasis on redefining the 'postcolonial' in order to find a place for America. In doing so, Repositioning Shakespeare makes a considerable contribution to the continuing debate about the uses we make of Shakespeare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415194983
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/10/1998
Series:	Routledge Research in Shakespeare & Renaissance Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Thomas Cartelli is Professor of English at Muhlenberg College. He is the author of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and the Economy of Theatrical Experience, which was awarded the 1991 Hoffman Prize for Distinguished Publication on Christopher Marlowe.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION; Part 1 DEMOCRATIC VISTAS; Chapter 1 NATIVISM, NATIONALISM, AND THE COMMON MAN IN AMERICAN CONSTRUCTIONS OF SHAKESPEARE; Chapter 2 SHAKESPEARE AT HULL HOUSE: JANE ADDAMS'S “A MODERN LEAR” AND THE 1894 PULLMAN STRIKE; Chapter 3 SHAKESPEARE, 1916: CALIBAN BY THE YELLOW SANDS AND THE NEW DRAMAS OF DEMOCRACY; Part 2 PROSPERO'S BOOKS; Chapter 4 PROSPERO IN AFRICA: THE TEMPEST AS COLONIALIST TEXT AND PRETEXT; Chapter 5 AFTER THE TEMPEST : SHAKESPEARE, POSTCOLONIALITY, AND MICHELLE CLIFF'S NEW, NEW WORLD MIRANDA; Part 3 THE OTHELLO COMPLEX; Chapter 6 ENSLAVING THE MOOR: OTHELLO, OROONOKO, AND THE RECUPERATION OF INTRACTABILITY; Chapter 7 “LIKE OTHELLO”: TAYEB SALIH'S SEASON OF MIGRATION AND POSTCOLONIAL SELF-FASHIONING; Conclusion; Notes; Works Cited INDEX;

Editorial Reviews

Offers a far-reaching assessment of how the Bard has been appropriated within postcolonial contexts, especially in the US, exploring how he is repositioned as postcolonial cultures seek to renegotiate Shakespeare's standing as a privileged site of authority within their own national formations. Provides innovative readings of texts and events including polemical essays by Walt Whitman, the 1849 Astor Place Riot, films by James Ivory and Gus Van Sant, and a Shakespeare tercentenary masque performed in 1916. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Booknews

'Repositioning Shakespeare is a very well researched book, full of insight both into Shakespeare, American and world-wide politics and social affairs and, most of all, the postcolonial issue. For anyone engaged in postcolonial studies it is of great use and it is certainly a pleasure to read.' - Magnus Ankarsjö, Modern Languages

From the Publisher