Seminar 8:
The Early Modern Reception of Shakespeare in Print and the Rise of Shakespearean Cultural Capital

Jean-Christophe Mayer (CNRS and University of Montpellier)

TOPIC DESCRIPTION
When Shakespeare’s plays began to appear in print (in quarto and folio format, and later in multi-volume editions), they entered another economy and a different symbolic space. The creation of a “print Shakespeare”, as opposed to a “stage Shakespeare”, had consequences on the way the playwright’s works were received and appropriated during the early modern period (from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century). With the gradual proliferation of more accessible editions, reading became the primary mode for experiencing Shakespeare’s plays. Moreover, these books had material and symbolic forms which partly determined how they were used and appropriated.

The purpose of this seminar will be to explore these editions and their reception. We will study their paratextual material in particular and also their visual or iconic potential. Early modern examples of appropriation will be related to later and even postmodern instances of appropriation and circulation of Shakespeare’s works. This will lead us to discuss the impact that these early editions of Shakespeare still have on us today.

The seminar will focus on the following issues:

1. how Shakespeare and his works reached their iconic status
2. how early editions and their appropriation contributed to the rise of Shakespearean “cultural capital”, creating their own “charismatic economy” (Bourdieu)
3. how forms of appropriation remain complex to comprehend, as Shakespeare’s works are often sites of ideological exchange and contested objects of value (Lanier)

LITERATURE

Bourdieu, Pierre. “The Field of Cultural Production, or: the Economic World Reversed”, in Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production, ed. Randal Johnson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 29-74. PDF.

---“The Production of Belief: Contribution to an Economy of Symbolic Goods”, in Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production, ed. Randal Johnson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 74-111. PDF.

---“The Market of Symbolic Goods”, in Pierre Bourdieu, The Field of Cultural Production, ed. Randal Johnson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 112-43.

Introductory Paratexts of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s Works (1623) – PDF.

Lanier, Douglas, “Unpopularizing Shakespeare: A Short History”, in Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 21-49 – PDF.

---. “Shakespeare ^tm: myth and biographical fiction”, in The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture, ed. Robert Shaughnessy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 93-113 – PDF.

Mayer, Jean-Christophe, “Shakespeare and the order of books”, in Shakespearean Configurations, special issue # 21 of Early Modern Literary Studies (EMLS), forthcoming 2013. – PDF.

SCHEDULE
Session 1:Shakespeare in print and the rise of the icon
Session 2:Shakespearean paratexts and the creation of cultural capital
Session 3:Early modern versus postmodern appropriation of Shakespeare—case studies and theoretical issues

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.