Research Seminar for Literature Majors (397-0-20)
Topic
Global Shakespeare
Instructors
Wendy L Wall
Meeting Info
University Hall 118: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
How do 20th and 21st century artists --working in different media across the globe-- use Shakespeare's drama as a resource for exploring colonialism, war, same-sex desire, race, non-binary gender, school violence, urban ethnic tension, legal injustices, and anti-Semitism? From Renaissance London to 21st-century India-- from apartheid South Africa to US teen culture-- readers have appropriated, adapted and reinvented Shakespeare's plays to create new art forms. In this research seminar, we will reflect on the transformations of Shakespearean drama in cultures of the world, through a range of media (print, theater, musical concert, and film), with a focus on The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Tempest and their afterlives: Toni Morrison's Desdemona, Shishir Kurup's Merchant on Venice (a play about Hindu, Muslim, and Latina/o cultures in modern LA), Aimé Cesaire's A Tempest, the prison documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars, the film O, and the Māori Merchant of Venice). All assignments will be geared toward building the specific skills needed to undertake research in the humanities and to become a knowledge maker, with attention to designing a viable research project, identifying and treating historical and interpretative sources responsibly, and developing a sustained argument with strong evidence. Students may choose to investigate any afterlife of any Shakespearean play in their final research project; this afterlife might take the form of play, YA book, graphic novel, translation, ballet, puppet performance, film, or literary adaptation.
Class Materials (Required)
Aimé Césaire's A Tempest (trans. Richard Miller) ISBN: 1559362103
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, ed. Halio, Oxford World Classics 1st edition, ISBN: 019953585X
William Shakespeare, Othello, ed. Thompson, Honigmann, The Arden 3rd series, 2nd edition, ISBN: 1472571762
William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. Vaughan, The Arden 3rd series, ISBN: 1408133474
Toni Morrison, Desdemona, ISBN: 135027027X
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Department Majors Only
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Department Majors Only. No Freshmen/First Years.