Research Seminar for Literature Majors (397-0-20)

Topic

Global Shakespeare

Instructors

Wendy Wall

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L04: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

Appropriation, Adaptation, Reinvention: 20th- and 21st-century artists --working in different media across the globe--engage in these acts when they use Shakespeare's plays as a vital cultural resource. From Renaissance London to contemporary India, from apartheid-era South Africa to modern U.S. teen culture, Shakespeare's work has boldly been positioned to engage with timely issues: colonialism, war, same-sex desire, racial and ethnic tensions, gender instability, school violence, and legal injustice. In this seminar, we'll examine the global transformations of Shakespearean drama across cultures and media (print, theater, and film). We'll focus on The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet, alongside creative reworkings such as Toni Morrison's Desdemona, Shishir Kurup's Merchant on Venice (a play about Hindu, Muslim, and Latina/o cultures in modern Los Angeles), James Lujan's Kino and Teresa (a play about star-crossed love in colonial New Mexico), the teen flick O, and Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weniti (The Māori Merchant of Venice). All assignments will be geared toward building the skills needed to undertake research in the humanities, with attention to designing a viable research project, identifying and treating valid sources responsibly, and developing a sustained argument. For their final projects, students may choose to investigate any afterlife of any Shakespearean play (afterlives might take the form of a play, YA book, graphic novel, translation, ballet, puppet performance, film, or literary adaptation).

Class Materials (Required)

Required texts:

Toni Morrison, Desdemona, ISBN: 135027027X
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, ed. Halio, Oxford World Classics 1st ed, ISBN:019953585X
Shakespeare, Othello, ed. Michael Neill,The Oxford Shakespeare,ISBN: 0199535876
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Norton Critical Edition, ed. Gordon McMullan. ISBN-13: ‎978-0393926262

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Department Majors Only

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Department Majors and Minors Only. No Freshmen/First Years