The Travels of Shakespeare
Shakespeare: History, Ownership, Reception
William Shakespeare is widely viewed as the quintessential English Bard, whose works are representative of the quality of Britain's literary heritage. His poems and plays also have broad cosmopolitan appeal, even in societies hostile to England.
Professor Islam Issa of Birmingham City University, recently came to the Mandel Center to deliver a lecture on the reception of Shakespeare in Iran, Afghanistan and even Nazi Germany, raising questions about the potential use of literary icons in soft-power diplomacy.
According to Professor Issa, the Ayatollah has publicly stated that he read and enjoyed the works of Shakespeare. He also uses Shakespeare as instructive of Western vices and the limitations of perspective in Western society. By contrast, members of the Taliban have expressed a strong, even visceral dislike of Shakespeare. Bin Laden, who lived in England as a child, and often visited Shakespeare's birthplace, had such a firm hatred of the place, that according to Professor Issa, Shakespeare's birthplace was one of the places under threat after 9/11. Ever since, Taliban members view it as a symbol representing the western heritage to which they are opposed.
Such uses and abuses of Shakespeare are not new, and certainly not limited to the Arab world. Nazi Germany embraced Shakespeare, while Stalin famously asked Shostakovich to rewrite the ending of Romeo and Juliet. Turning the play into a romance where the protagonists lived happily ever after, served to diminish the threat of patriarchy while making it seem as if freedom was not strictly necessary for happiness.
The question remains, how should those of us who work and engage within the Anglo-American tradition, understand these various receptions to a beloved literary icon? Professor Issa aims to provide a new conceptual scheme in which to understand such receptions to Shakespeare.
Issa proposes the ideas of negotiated and oppositional reception, as ways to make sense of literary reception in cultures hostile to England. Negotiated reception aligns with the notions of identification and disidentification -- the Ayatollah, for example, identified with some elements of Shakespeare's works while using it to highlight areas of disidentification. Stalin apparently did as well. Bin Laden by contrast, used Shakespeare to strengthen "subordination and resistance" towards English culture and western values. This makes it an instance of oppositional reception.
Complexity arises as Shakespeare is still used by the British government as a vehicle for soft-power diplomacy. The birthplace is still the site of an annual celebration welcoming both tourists and government officials from all over the world. People from all walks of life flock to Stratford-upon-Avon to engage with a place where Shakespeare spent maybe a few years of his life.
Tied into this entire web is the significance of place in literary discourses, and how narratives shape the folk-history of a place. Professor Issa ended his talk by considering how the mythology surrounding Stratford might compare to a city like Alexandria in Egypt, with ties to both Alexander the Great, as well as to Homer.