Publisher's Synopsis
This study simultaneously supports and challenges Shakespeare's "universality". It does this by showing that Shakespeare is not universal insofar as his poetry speaks to all people of all classes, beyond class distinctions, but by demonstrating just how deeply entrenched Shakespeare is across a spectrum of socioeconomic structures and class, gender and ethnic struggles. The subjects of these essays range from Shakespeare's own appropriation of the sonnet form from Elizabethan couriers to reinterpretations of Shakespeare's plays in 19th-century African theatre to Brecht's political reworkings of Shakespeare's plays to pedagogical uses of Shakespeare in cultural studies courses to adaptations of Shakespeare in gay porn films.;This collection of contributions considers the value and use of Shakespeare both inside and outside the classroom. It considers the extent to which Shakespeare is a social, cultural and political battleground. From festivals to adaptations, the current explosion of the use of Shakespeare often consolidates elite and dominant culture. This text suggests that, if we give more sustained attention to the uses of clash with Shakespeare's status as high cultural capital, we might help to identify, understand, and even co produce both Shakespearean dissonance as well as a vital, collective countertradition.
