Shakespeare and Ideology on Page and Stage http://hdl.handle.net/11089/44692 2026-04-06T17:15:40Z 2026-04-06T17:15:40Z Golemi, Marinela Georgopoulou, Xenia http://hdl.handle.net/11089/44706 2022-12-17T02:31:02Z 2022-12-14T00:00:00Z

Theatre Reviews Golemi, Marinela; Georgopoulou, Xenia

2022-12-14T00:00:00Z Iwata, Miki Galland, Nora Matei-Chesnoiu, Monica Xia, Yanhua http://hdl.handle.net/11089/44705 2022-12-17T02:30:58Z 2022-12-14T00:00:00Z

Book Reviews Iwata, Miki; Galland, Nora; Matei-Chesnoiu, Monica; Xia, Yanhua

2022-12-14T00:00:00Z Matei-Chesnoiu, Monica http://hdl.handle.net/11089/44704 2022-12-17T02:31:07Z 2022-12-14T00:00:00Z

Epitomes of Dacia: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania in Early Modern English Travelogues Matei-Chesnoiu, Monica This essay examines the kaleidoscopic and abridged perspectives on three early modern principalities (Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania), whose lands are now part of modern-day Romania. I examine travelogues and geography texts describing these Eastern European territories written by Marco Polo (1579), Abraham Ortelius (1601; 1608), Nicolas de Nicolay (1585), Johannes Boemus (1611), Pierre d’Avity (1615), Francisco Guicciardini (1595), George Abbot (1599), Uberto Foglietta (1600), William Biddulph (1609), Richard Hakluyt (1599-1600), Fynes Moryson (1617), and Sir Henry Blount (1636), published in England in the period 1579-1636. The essay also offers brief incursions into the representations of these geographic spaces in a number of Shakespearean plays, such as The Merchant of Venice and Othello, as well as in Pericles, Prince of Tyre by Shakespeare and Wilkins. I argue that these Eastern European locations configure an erratic spatiality that conflates ancient place names with early modern ones, as they reconstruct a space-time continuum that is neither real nor totally imaginary. These territories represent real-and-fictional locations, shaping an ever-changing world of spatial networks reconstructed out of fragments of cultural geographic and ethnographic data. The travel and geographic narratives are marked by a particular kind of literariness, suggesting dissension, confusion, and political uncertainty to the early modern English imagination.

2022-12-14T00:00:00Z Minami, Hikaru http://hdl.handle.net/11089/44702 2022-12-17T02:30:55Z 2022-12-14T00:00:00Z

Writing and Rewriting Nationhood: "Henry V" and Political Appropriation of Shakespeare Minami, Hikaru Shakespeare’s Henry V is often regarded as a nationalistic play and has been appropriated for political spin and propaganda to enhance the sense of national unity. Shakespeare captures the emerging nationalistic feeling of the Tudor era in Henry’s emphasis on national history and pride, but various parts of the text suggest a more diverse and complex figures of the king and his subjects than a war hero and the united nation. Such complexity, however, is often ignored in political appropriation. Laurence Olivier’s film adaptation during WWII glamorizes the war and defines the English nation as a courageous “band of brothers” through its presentation of Shakespeare’s play a shared story or history of national victory. Kenneth Branagh’s film in 1989, on the other hand, captures the ugliness of war but it still romanticizes the sacrifice for the country. In 2016, Shakespeare was made part of the Brexit discourse of growing nationalism at the time of the EU referendum. Brexit was imagined as a victory that will bring back freedom and sovereignty the country once enjoyed, and Shakespeare was used to represent the greatness of Britain. Shakespeare’s text, however, depicts the war against the continent in a more skeptical than glorifying tone. The war scenes are scattered with humorous dialogues and critical comments and the multi-national captains of Henry’s army are constantly at odds with one another. Shakespeare thus provides us with a wider view of nationhood, resisting the simplifying force of politics.

2022-12-14T00:00:00Z