The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation

Description

The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation explores the dynamics of adapted Shakespeare across a range of literary genres and new media forms. This comprehensive reference and research resource maps the field of Shakespeare adaptation studies, identifying theories of adaptation, their application in practice and the methodologies that underpin them. It investigates current research and points towards future lines of enquiry for students, researchers and creative practitioners of Shakespeare adaptation. The opening section on research methods and problems considers definitions and theories of Shakespeare adaptation and emphasises how Shakespeare is both adaptor and adapted.A central section develops these theoretical concerns through a series of case studies that move across a range of genres, media forms and cultures to ask not only how Shakespeare is variously transfigured, hybridised and valorised through adaptational play, but also how adaptations produce interpretive communities, and within these potentially new literacies, modes of engagement and sensory pleasures. The volume's third section provides the reader with uniquely detailed insights into creative adaptation, with writers and practice-based researchers reflecting on their close collaborations with Shakespeare's works as an aesthetic, ethical and political encounter. The Handbook further establishes the conceptual parameters of the field through detailed, practical resources that will aid the specialist and non-specialist reader alike, including a guide to research resources and an annotated bibliography.

Diana E. Henderson is the Arthur J. Conner Professor of Literature at MIT, USA. She teaches, publishes and edits widely in the fields of Shakespeare, media studies and early modern studies, and is a dramaturg, designer of online educational modules and documentary producer. Stephen O'Neill is Associate Professor in English and Shakespeare Studies at Maynooth University, Ireland. He has published widely on adapted Shakespeare, especially in digital cultures.

Featuring a breath-taking array of examples and interventions, The Arden Research Handbook of Shakespeare and Adaptation is a stellar accomplishment. Embracing the full gamut of forms of adaptation, it ranges widely over theatre, poetry, film, fiction, television, and digital/media platforms, mapping a multiplicity of venues and celebrating the vitality of Shakespeare as a catalysing force. Context- and culture-specific, the case-studies offer a range of entry points into the field, whether through discussions of method, analyses of ideology, prioritisation of authorial voice or the ignition of global conversations. Crucially, as the intersecting chapters unfold, we are encouraged to participate in debate and reflect on Shakespeare's past, present and future iterations. The generous provision of resources (sites and tools) is a particularly attractive feature. Above all, this is a Handbook that showcases the value of adaptation as practice and object of scholarly enquiry. As such, it is refreshing, revealing, and abundantly creative - indispensable. * Mark Thornton Burnett, Queen's University Belfast, UK * This handbook reframes the subject of Shakespeare and Adaptation for a new generation of scholars. It combines what the editors call a "'big tent' vision of Shakespeare adaptation studies" with sharp focus on individual case studies, theoretical problems and themes that illuminate the range and vitality of Shakespeare-inspired adaptations. Leaving classificatory concerns behind, the volume focuses on work concerned with intermediality and appropriation, drawing additional critical energy from translation studies. This is a book that will inspire and guide a new generation of adaptation scholars interested in global challenges, social justice and how to do new things with Shakespeare. * Pascale Aebischer, University of Exeter, UK *