It seems only right that I should write a Shakespeare related blogpost once in a while. Those who have had the misfortune of bumping into me post-Kiernan Ryan Shakespeare seminar will know that I would go on and on about whatever lightbulb moment I had had. The thing I love about Shakespeare, and that I always endeavoured to put across whenever teaching Shakespeare, is that the plays reveal more to us about ourselves and the world around us than they do about anything else.
For example: when watching A Midsummer Night's Dream we fixate on the fact that Titania has fallen in love with a guy who has an ass's head, when what we should actually be focusing on is the fact that we are watching a queen getting it on with a weaver - a mere craftsman. Biting social satire from the very best.
However my particular specialism lies within Shakespeare's afterlives - what it is that we do with his plays now: in film, on tv, in songs, online, within social media...the lot.
Now, what does this have to do with Chick Lit?
I could give you a vast list of any number of romantic novels that use plotpoints from Shakespeare (Leonie Osborne's Romancing the Bard website has extensive analysis - particularly of Georgette Heyer, Regency and Harlequin romances) but that'd defeat the object of this blog.
I want you to think of anything that makes reference to Shakespeare - whether that's Such Tweet Sorrow or Gnomeo and Juliet and let me know. Because we all reference him everyday - Romeo and Juliet or no.
No comments:
Post a Comment