Shakespeare, Genre, Modernity (Part 1) and Late Shakespeare (Part 2) - Detailseite

No point about Shakespeare has been more often made and debunked than his status as the inaugural figure of Western modernity. Shakespeare was routinely seen to prefigure the modern subject, ideas of political organization and rule, the emergence of capitalism, or globalisation. At the same time, such claims have been repeatedly rejected by insisting on Shakespeare’s situatedness in an early modern historical and theatrical context that was still significantly different from the conditions, institution, and mentalities of modernity. This class will read some canonical texts by Shakespeare across all major genres and will investigate how these different works and genres can be understood in relation to Shakespeare proclaimed modernity. It is undeniable that Shakespeare wrote and lived in an age of massive transformation, so we will take the thesis of Shakespeare’s modernity seriously. To do so we will have to look at theories and conceptions of modernity and read Shakespeare’s plays through their prisms. At the same time, we will also investigate the claim of Shakespeare’s modernity critically, by linking his texts in specific historical and theatrical constellations and especially by wondering if Shakespeare’s modernity is really an anticipation of our modernity, or whether it must best be understood in different – perhaps more radical– terms. As we approach these questions, the class will also familiarise students with some key theoretical perspectives in literary studies, such as new historicism, cultural materialism, ecocriticism, economic criticism, or the philosophy of history. Questions of genre will also be approached by looking at the texts through classical, neo-classical, and modern conceptions of dramatic and theatrical form.

The Part 2 will look at the late works of Shakespeare, especially those classified as romances. We will read these works closely to understand in how far they mark a departure from Shakespeare’s earlier works, both thematically and with respect to dramatic form. We will investigate their specific use of space and time, their interest in geography and magic, their relation to established dramatic genres like tragedy and comedy, and will debate in how far they can be seen as a culmination of Shakespeare’s (early) modernity.