Seminar 11:
Shakespeare Staged Behind Barbed Wire: Towards an Alternative Reading of the Sonnets, Hamlet, and Richard II
Ton Hoenselaars (Utrecht)
TOPIC DESCRIPTION
The meaning of “Shakespeare” is, to a large extent, produced by the circumstances under which it is read or performed. The experience of ‘Shakespeare’ in the traditional classroom differs much from the practice of reading ‘Shakespeare’ behind barbed wire.
SCHEDULE
In the 1st session, we discuss the phenomenon of ‘Shakespeare’ and ‘imprisonment’ in the complete works. The introduction serves to create an awareness of historical distance, and to distinguish between Shakespeare in penitentiary establishments (‘behind bars’) and Shakespeare in the camps of World War I, World War I, and the Kolyma (‘behind barbed wire’). It also serves to prepare the question what it is in the work of Shakespeare that seems to have appealed to prisoners of war, civilian internees, and prisoners of conscience.
In the 2nd and 3rd sections we devote attention to The Sonnets, Hamlet, and Richard II in particular. Juxtaposing these Shakespearean texts with multiple examples of their actual use behind barbed wire (performance, reading, recitation, and quotation), we study these various processes of signification, or this production of meaning, as attempts to communicate the experience of the ‘self’ under repressive regimes to the world at large. Apparently, modern readers behind barbed wire continue to re-‐cognize the experience of the early modern ‘self’ as this was developed by Shakespeare, just as the Shakespearean texts enable them to negotiate matters of aesthetics or of an ethical nature.
LITERATURE
Primary Reading: The Sonnets, Hamlet, and Richard II
Secondary Reading:
1. Manfred Pfister, “Shakespeare’s Sonnets de profundis” (2013);
2. David Schalkwyk, “Hamlet’s Dreams” (2006);
3. Ton Hoenselaars, “The Company of Shakespeare in Exile” (2011)
ASSESSMENT
The first seminar grade expresses the activity in the seminar discussion. It can range from 0 to 10, the pass limit is 5. The second seminar grade assesses the quality of paper proposals (300 words minimum), the share of the student in the preparation of the final presentation, its contents and standard. It can range from 0 to 15, the pass limit is 8. The final essay grade is expressed in points from 0 to 30, the pass limit is 15. Deadline for the submission of the essay: 15 July 2013. Length of the essay: 3000-4000 words. The maximum number of points acquired for the 2 seminars and an essay is 80 (25+25+30).
For the participation in a workshop 5 points are acquired (10 points for two workshops). For the the submission of an internship application 5 points are acquired and 10 points fort the shortlisting for the internship.
