WiSe 21/22: HS-Constr.Difference:Liter.+Cult.Hist.: Shakespeare and the Jews
Sabine Schülting
Kommentar
In 1992 James Shapiro gave his seminal lecture on “Shakespeare and the Jews”, which would form the basis of his monograph of the same title. He proceeds from the observation that England in the early modern age was “surprisingly preoccupied with Jewish questions”, despite the fact that there were not many Jews in the country. He argues that the debates about Jews and Judaism, often reiterating age-old stereotypes, “provide insight into the cultural anxieties felt by English men and women at a time when their nation was experiencing extraordinary social, religious, and political turbulence.” (Shakespeare and the Jews, 1996, p. 1) The first part of the seminar will deal with this turbulent time and its negotiation of the “Jewish question”. We will read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, together with some of its early modern intertexts, both literary and non-literary, and explore the intersection of theological, economic and proto-racial discourses. The second part of the course will shift the perspective to the 20th and 21st centuries when – as Dennis Kennedy put it – “the external events of the Second World War have affected Merchant so thoroughly that it is fair to say that since 1945 we have been in possession of a new text of the play, one which bears relationships to the earlier text but is also significantly different from it.” (Looking at Shakespeare, 1994, p. 200) We will explore this “new text” as well as its adaptations to stage and screen. Our discussions will focus on the representation of Shakespeare’s Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, as well as on his daughter Jessica, who converts to Christianity. We will also explore the contradictory ways in which Merchant has served to remember the Holocaust. Last, but not least, we will be concerned with Jewish responses to the play – by directors and actors, literary critics, and writers.
Readings: William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (please read a scholarly edition of the play, e.g. the Arden 3 or the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition, or the play in The Oxford or The Norton Shakespeare); Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (e.g. the Bloomsbury edition, ed. by James R. Siemon); Howard Jacobson, Shylock Is My Name (Hogarth, 2016). All other texts will be made available via Blackboard. You may wish to read these texts before the beginning of the semester, to reduce the reading load during the term.
Assessment: Students are expected to participate regularly, read the assigned texts, take part in the discussions, and contribute a presentation and/or short response papers. The exam is an essay of c. 7500 words. Exchange students (MA level) are of course welcome. You can gain up to 10 ECTS in this course.
If the pandemic situation allows it, the course will be taught on Campus, in the person. Please check Blackboard in the first week of October for an update.
Schließen16 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung