Shakespeare / Not Shakespeare

Abstract

This essay collection addresses the paradox that something may at once “be” and “not be” Shakespeare. This phenomenon can be a matter of perception rather than authorial intention: audiences may detect Shakespeare where the author disclaims him or have difficulty finding him where he is named. Douglas Lanier’s “Shakespearean rhizome,” which co-opts Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of artistic relations as rhizomes (a spreading, growing network that sprawls horizontally to defy hierarchies of origin and influence) is fundamental to this exploration. Essays discuss the fine line between “Shakespeare” and “not Shakespeare” through a number of critical lenses—networks and pastiches, memes and echoes, texts and paratexts, celebrities and afterlives, accidents and intertexts—and include a wide range of examples: canonical plays by Shakespeare, historical figures, celebrities, television performances and adaptations, comics, anime appropriations, science fiction novels, blockbuster films, gangster films, Shakesploitation and teen films, foreign language films, and non-Shakespearean classic films. Keywords Shakespeare and intertextuality Shakespeare and the post-textual Jean Baudrillard’s hyperreality Shakespearean Rhizomatics Fumitoshi Oizaki’s Romeo x Juliet Shakespeare and comics Gérard Genette shakespeare and paratext Shakespeare in science fiction The Rape of Lucrece Shakespeare, female sexuality, and cinema Shakespeare and teen movies Shakespeare and memes Memetics of Hamlet Shakespeare and Gossip Girl Shakespearean influence on modern television Arrested Development Sons of Anarchy Hamlet and Pan's Labyrinth Sleep no more Table of contents (17 chapters) Introduction Desmet, Christy (et al.) Pages 1-22 “This is not Shakespeare!” Holderness, Graham Pages 25-41 Chasing Shakespeare: The Impurity of the “Not Quite” in Norry Niven’s From Above and Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is My Romeo Calbi, Maurizio Pages 43-58 HypeRomeo & Juliet: Postmodern Adaptation and Shakespeare Casey, Jim Pages 59-75 “I’ll Always Consider Myself Mechanical”: Cyborg Juliette and the Shakespeare Apocalypse in Hugh Howey’s Silo Saga Conaway, Charles Pages 79-95 Guest Starring Hamlet: The Proliferation of the Shakespeare Meme on American Television Denslow, Kristin N. Pages 97-110 Romeo Unbound Hendershott-Kraetzer, Kirk Pages 111-128 Chaste Thinking, Cultural Reiterations: Shakespeare’s Lucrece and The Letter Correll, Barbara Pages 131-147 Paratextual Shakespearings: Comics’ Shakespearean Frame Christopher, Brandon Pages 149-167 “Thou Hast It Now”: One-on-Ones and the Online Community of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More McHugh, Caitlin Pages 169-183 Dirty Rats, Dead for a Ducat: Shakespearean Echoes (and an Accident) in Some Films of James Cagney Hollifield, Scott Pages 187-202 YouShakespeare: Shakespearean Celebrity 2.0 Holl, Jennifer Pages 203-219 Finding Shakespeare in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby Loper, Natalie Pages 221-238 Surfing with Juliet: The Shakespearean Dialectics of Disney’s Teen Beach Movie Croteau, Melissa Pages 241-258 “Accidental” Erasure: Relocating Shakespeare’s Women in Philippa Gregory’s The Cousins’ War Series Meyer, Allison Machlis Pages 259-274 Dramas of Recognition: Pan’s Labyrinth and Warm Bodies as Accidental Shakespeare Desmet, Christy Pages 275-291 Shakespeare / Not Shakespeare: Afterword Lanier, Douglas M. Pages 293-306