The works of William Shakespeare have long been embraced by communist and socialist governments. One of the central cultural debates of the Soviet period concerned repertoire, including the usefulness and function of pre-revolutionary drama for the New Man and the New Society. Shakespeare survived the byzantine twists and turns of Soviet cultural politics by becoming established early as the Great Realist whose works should be studied, translated, and emulated. This view of Shakespeare as a humanist and realist was transferred to a host of other countries including East Germany, Hungary, Poland, China, and Cuba after the Second World War. Shakespeare in the Worlds of Communism and Socialism traces the reception of Shakespeare from 1917 to 2002 and addresses the relationship of Shakespeare to Marxist and communist ideology. Irena R. Makaryk and Joseph G. Price have brought together an internationally-rewned group of theatre historians, practitioners, and scholars to examine the extraordinary conjunction of Shakespeare and ideology during a fascinating period of twentieth-century history. Roughly historical in their arrangement, the essays in this collection suggest the complicated and convoluted trajectory of Shakespeare's reputation. The general theme that emerges from this study is the deeply ambivalent nature of communist Shakespeare who, like Feste's 'chev'ril glove,' often simultaneously served and subverted the official ideology. Contributors: Alexey Bartoshevitch Laura Raidonis Bates Maria Clara Versiani Galery Lawrence Guntner Werner Habicht Maik Hamburger Martin Hilsk Krystyna Kujawinska-Courtney Irena R. Makaryk Zolt n M rkus Sharon O'Dair Arkady Ostrovsky Joseph G. Price Laurence Senelick Shu-hua Wang Robert Weimann Xiao Yang Zhang
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of Toronto Press
ISBN-10
1442626038
ISBN-13
9781442626034
eBay Product ID (ePID)
152503493
Product Key Features
Format
Trade Paperback (US), Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Literary Criticism
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
Toronto
Edited by
Joseph G. Price, Irena R. Makaryk
Content Note
Black & White Illustrations
Author Biography
Irena R. Makaryk is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Ottawa.Joseph G. Price is a professor emeritus in the Department of English at Pennsylvania State University.