Department of English

English 5840:  Talking Back to Shakespeare
T 6-9
Sanford 502
Dr. Susan Staub 

For centuries, writers and artists have responded to Shakespeare’s works by retelling them in interesting and sometimes subversive ways. This kind of intertextual discourse seeks to put Shakespeare in conversation with other periods and cultures. Often referred to as “Talking Back to Shakespeare,” such revisions both challenge the cultural hegemony long associated with his plays and engage with them in new ways that reexamine ongoing concerns such as gender, race, ethnicity, class, and political issues. Delving into various media—from literature to film and theater—we will examine how a selection of contemporary texts transform Shakespeare’s themes, characters, and narratives to reflect modern societal issues, critique traditional perspectives, and amplify marginalized voices. This course will put six of Shakespeare’s plays (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest) in dialogue with contemporary texts such as Hamnet, Fat Ham, Desdemona, American Moor, Station Eleven, A Branch of the Blue Nile, The Gap of Time, and Prospero’s Daughter. We will also look at recent film and theatrical productions of the plays.  

A highlight of the course will be a visit with actor/playwright Keith Hamilton Cobb, author of American Moor and one of the creators of The Untitled Othello Project. 

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