Multicultural Shakespeare | 2019
Book Reviews
Abstract
2016 marked the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, and various movies, exhibitions, theatrical performances, academic treatises in relation to the Bard were springing up in venues ranging from his hometown and London to America and Asia. Shakespeare: His Infinite Variety edited by Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney and Grzegorz Zinkiewicz was one of the tributes to the “citizen of the world” (9). Inspired by questions such as why Shakespeare “still evoke[s] international interest” (12), the editors gather the essays with the aim of finding out the manifestations of and reasons for his everlasting appeal to later generations, especially to those from non-Anglophone countries. In the Introduction titled “Living Daily with Shakespeare Worldwide,” editor Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney hints that the “multi-national encounters with Shakespeare” (12) are reinventions of his works that precipitate Shakespeare’s “infinite variety” (12) and enable him never to be “stale” (12) all around the world. Shakespeare’s works are deeply invested in the Judeo-Christian tradition, which has intimate connections with Greek and Roman culture. In the first section “Revisiting Texts and Contexts,” what is interesting is that, the two contributors, from Italy and Greece respectively, interpret Shakespeare’s texts through the lens of their cultural experiences. Mario Domenichelli from the University of Florence lays emphasis on the power of rhetoric in Shakespeare’s Roman plays, and the political interactions behind the rhetorical battles. He starts with a reference to Machiavelli, the famous, or rather the notorious Florentine, who is often labeled as “the Evil Tutor.” The contributor presents a striking contrast between the languages spoken by the political figures in Roman “imperial diptych” (18), namely Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. Brutus’s Roman and aristocratic discourse is defeated by Antony’s Asian and rhetoric demagogy, who is overwhelmed later by Octavian’s laconic and rational speech. What occurs among them is not merely rhetoric battles, but