Shakespeare and Seriality
Page, Stage, Screen
Published on 20. February 2025
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-1-350-43726-5 (ISBN)
Description
Encompassing a wide variety of genres, media and art forms across a broad historical scope, this open access book identifies central strategies of serialization in Shakespeare's plays and their adaptations.
Beginning with an introduction that theorizes the method of reading Shakespeare serially on page, stage and screen, the first section investigates Shakespeare himself as a serial writer and serial rewritings of Shakespeare by Joyce and Beckett. Shakespeare and Seriality then moves to a series of case studies of performative seriality from the early modern stage to theatre, film and ballet in the 20th and 21st centuries. It culminates in the analysis of adaptations of Shakespeare in complex TV series, including Succession, the postapocalyptic series Station Eleven and the cosy crime series Shakespeare and Hathaway. This book investigates Shakespeare's seriality from various theoretical perspectives and through multiple methods, including gender and queer theory, ecocriticism, memory and heritage studies, psychoanalysis, empathy studies and fandom studies, reception history and theatre history.
Examining serial reading as a method of establishing intertextual and intermedial links, this volume contributes to recent developments in adaptation studies including the debate between Shakespeare and 'not-Shakespeare'.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Centre of Cultural Inquiry (ZKF) and the Publication Fund of the University of Konstanz.
Beginning with an introduction that theorizes the method of reading Shakespeare serially on page, stage and screen, the first section investigates Shakespeare himself as a serial writer and serial rewritings of Shakespeare by Joyce and Beckett. Shakespeare and Seriality then moves to a series of case studies of performative seriality from the early modern stage to theatre, film and ballet in the 20th and 21st centuries. It culminates in the analysis of adaptations of Shakespeare in complex TV series, including Succession, the postapocalyptic series Station Eleven and the cosy crime series Shakespeare and Hathaway. This book investigates Shakespeare's seriality from various theoretical perspectives and through multiple methods, including gender and queer theory, ecocriticism, memory and heritage studies, psychoanalysis, empathy studies and fandom studies, reception history and theatre history.
Examining serial reading as a method of establishing intertextual and intermedial links, this volume contributes to recent developments in adaptation studies including the debate between Shakespeare and 'not-Shakespeare'.
The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Centre of Cultural Inquiry (ZKF) and the Publication Fund of the University of Konstanz.
Reviews / Votes
This brilliant book shows how Shakespearean drama spirals forward in a process of creative returns. It brings into fresh focus an extraordinary range of material - from Shakespeare's own artistry to the structures of history, from ballet to Beckett, from comfort television to trauma, apocalypse and the posthuman. The rich range of approaches includes queer theory, theatre history, memory studies and psychoanalysis. But perhaps its most valuable contribution is to define self-consciously serial reading itself as a form of creative interpretation and renewal of Shakespeare's form and meanings. * Ewan Fernie, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK * Exploring contemporary Shakespeare on television, in theatres, on film, and even in ballet, the book offers a deep dive into Shakespeare's influence on gender and queer theory, psychoanalysis theatre history and an array of other topics. * Quarto *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
11 illus
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
464 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-43726-5 (9781350437265)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Elisabeth Bronfen is Professor Emerita of English and American Studies at the University of Zurich, Switzerland and Global Distinguished Professor at NYU. She is the author of several books including Serial Shakespeare. An Infinite Variety of Appropriations in American T.V. Drama (2020), Night Passages. Philosophy, Literature, and Film (2013) and Crossmappings. On Visual Culture (2018).
Christina Wald is Professor of English Literature and Director of the Centre for Cultural Inquiry at the University of Konstanz, Germany. She is the author of several books including Shakespeare's Serial Returns in Complex TV (2020). Her work has appeared in journals including Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Bulletin, Modern Drama, Adaptation, Anglia, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature and Classical Receptions Journal.
Christina Wald is Professor of English Literature and Director of the Centre for Cultural Inquiry at the University of Konstanz, Germany. She is the author of several books including Shakespeare's Serial Returns in Complex TV (2020). Her work has appeared in journals including Shakespeare Survey, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Bulletin, Modern Drama, Adaptation, Anglia, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature and Classical Receptions Journal.
Content
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Theorizing Shakespeare's Seriality, Elisabeth Bronfen (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Christina Wald (University of Konstanz, Germany)
I. Reading Shakespeare Serially: Shakespeare as a Serial Writer & Serial Rewritings of Shakespeare
1. Shakespeare's Serial Secrets, Elisabeth Bronfen (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
2. Shakespeare's Uneven Ends: The First Tetralogy as Historical Series, Carla Baricz (Yale University, USA)
3. The Desdemona effect: Empathy, retelling and seriality in Shakespeare's Othello, Aleida Assmann (University of Konstanz, Germany)
4. Shakespeare's Serial Legacies: Joyce and Beckett, Claudia Olk (Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany)
II. Performing Shakespeare Serially: Theatrical Serialization Effects
5. Falstaff, again: Configurations of Serial Memory in Early Modern Culture, Isabel Karremann (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
6. "Play it Again, Antony!": Performing Antony and Cleopatra as Julius Caesar's Sequel on Stage and Screen, Sarah Hatchuel (Universite Paul Valery, France)
7. "And they dance": Queering Shakespeare through Balletic Seriality, Jonas Kellermann (University of Konstanz, Germany)
III. Televising Shakespeare Serially: Shakespeare and complex TV Series
8. 'Is this the promised end?': Afterwards, airflows, and Shakespearean dissonant repetitions in HBO's Succession (2018-2023), Stephen O'Neill (Maynooth University, Republic of Ireland)
9. The Poacher Poached, or a Serial Repurposing of the Bard in Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators, Kinga Foeldvary (Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary)
10. Serial Shakespeare after the end of the world: From repetition compulsions to the romance of recycling in Station Eleven, Christina Wald (University of Konstanz, Germany)
Index
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Theorizing Shakespeare's Seriality, Elisabeth Bronfen (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Christina Wald (University of Konstanz, Germany)
I. Reading Shakespeare Serially: Shakespeare as a Serial Writer & Serial Rewritings of Shakespeare
1. Shakespeare's Serial Secrets, Elisabeth Bronfen (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
2. Shakespeare's Uneven Ends: The First Tetralogy as Historical Series, Carla Baricz (Yale University, USA)
3. The Desdemona effect: Empathy, retelling and seriality in Shakespeare's Othello, Aleida Assmann (University of Konstanz, Germany)
4. Shakespeare's Serial Legacies: Joyce and Beckett, Claudia Olk (Ludwig Maximilians University, Germany)
II. Performing Shakespeare Serially: Theatrical Serialization Effects
5. Falstaff, again: Configurations of Serial Memory in Early Modern Culture, Isabel Karremann (University of Zurich, Switzerland)
6. "Play it Again, Antony!": Performing Antony and Cleopatra as Julius Caesar's Sequel on Stage and Screen, Sarah Hatchuel (Universite Paul Valery, France)
7. "And they dance": Queering Shakespeare through Balletic Seriality, Jonas Kellermann (University of Konstanz, Germany)
III. Televising Shakespeare Serially: Shakespeare and complex TV Series
8. 'Is this the promised end?': Afterwards, airflows, and Shakespearean dissonant repetitions in HBO's Succession (2018-2023), Stephen O'Neill (Maynooth University, Republic of Ireland)
9. The Poacher Poached, or a Serial Repurposing of the Bard in Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators, Kinga Foeldvary (Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary)
10. Serial Shakespeare after the end of the world: From repetition compulsions to the romance of recycling in Station Eleven, Christina Wald (University of Konstanz, Germany)
Index