486 F21 Graham

English 486: Shakespeare’s Afterlives

Fall 2021

Prof. Ken Graham

Section 1

k2graham@uwaterloo.ca

Classroom meeting time: Tuesdays 10-11:20, in EV3 4412                                       

Virtual meeting time (as necessary): Wednesdays 1-2:20

Office Hours: The Faculty of Arts has requested that office hours be held virtually. If you wish to talk with me, please let me know and I will schedule a meeting via WebEx.

 

Aims of the Course

This class will introduce you to contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare in the novel, on stage, and on screen. Through consideration of a variety of examples drawn from around the world, we will identify the challenges and rewards presented by a global Shakespeare. We will try to understand the relationship between modern adaptation and Shakespearean source, focussing on the paradoxical creative process that turns the act of reading Shakespeare into an act of speaking.

 

Methods and Requirements

This special topics class will function primarily as a seminar, mixing class and group discussion with some lecture. We will spend most class time discussing the readings, and regular contributions to the conversation will be expected. Graded work comprises:

1. Class participation. I will expect you to attend conscientiously and to participate in an informed and productive manner. This includes the ideas you bring to class as well as the responses you offer to what others say in class; the questions you ask as well as the positions you argue; specific critical observations about a word or a line as well as broad reflections on major issues. I am as interested in the courtesy and respect with which you listen and respond to what others say as in the sharpness of your own perceptions. It is your responsibility to inform me promptly of the reasons for an absence if you wish it to be excused. Weight = 14%
2. Response papers (8). In these informal 2-page (~500-word) papers you will ask an interpretive question about the day’s reading or viewing assignment and explore one or more possible answers to it. You might ask, for example, about a theme, a character, or some aspect of narrative structure or language. Your papers should be focussed and should refer to specific words and actions in the text, but they need not argue or take a position. Response papers are due at the start of class on the assigned dates. You will receive two points for every paper you turn in on time, and one for every paper you turn in no later than December 7. Papers significantly shorter than 500 words may not receive full marks. As with any written assignment, you must properly acknowledge all sources consulted. Weight = 16%
3. A shorter essay, 1500-2000 words in length (see page 6). Weight = 30%
4. A longer essay, 2500-3000 words in length (see page 6). Weight = 40%

 

Class Schedule

[PR = Porter Reserve.  UWB = UW Bookstore.]

Unit 1: Hamlet (mostly)

Sept.

• 14 - Introduction to the class; Bohannon, “Shakespeare in the Bush” (PR); Msomi, uMabatha (PR)
• 21 - Gurik, Hamlet, Prince of Québec (PR); response #1
• 28 - Al-Bassam, The Al-Hamlet Summit (PR); response #2           

Oct.

• 5 - Osofisan, Wẹsóo, Hamlet! (PR); response #3

 

11-17 Thanksgiving Holiday and Break

 

Unit 2: King Lear

• 19 - Kurosawa, Ran; first essay due, 10 a.m.
• 26 - Smiley, A Thousand Acres (UWB) and “Shakespeare in Iceland” (PR); response #4 (on A Thousand Acres)

Unit 3: Othello

Nov.

• 2 - Carlin, Not Now, Sweet Desdemona (PR); Desdemonum: An Ethiopian Burlesque (PR); Walcott, “Goats and Monkeys”
• 9 - Sears, Harlem Duet (UWB); response #5
• 16 - Bhardwaj, Omkara; response #6

Unit 4: The Tempest

• 23 - Césaire, A Tempest (UWB); response #7
  • Recommended: Mannoni, “Crusoe and Prospero” (PR); Lamming, “A Monster, A Child, A Slave” (PR); Brathwaite, “Caliban” (PR); Retamar, “Toward the History of Caliban” (PR)
• 30 - Atwood, Hag-Seed (UWB); response #8

Dec.

• 7 - Second essay due, 10 a.m.

The following items are available at the UW Bookstore (UWB):

Margaret Atwood. Hag-Seed (Random House).

Aimé Césaire. A Tempest. Trans. Richard Miller (TCG).

Djanet Sears. Harlem Duet (Scirocco).

Jane Smiley. A Thousand Acres (Anchor).

 

The following items are on electronic reserve for ENGL 486 at Porter Library (PR):

Al Bassam, Sulayman. The Arab Shakespeare Trilogy. Bloomsbury, 2014.

Anonymous. Desdemonum: An Ethiopian Burlesque in Three Scenes. In Othello: Texts     and Contexts, ed. Kim F. Hall (Bedford-St.Martin’s, 2007), 359-64. 

Bohannon, Laura. “Shakespeare in the Bush.” In Conformity and Conflict: Readings in     Cultural Anthropology, ed. James P. Spradley and David W. McCurdy (Little, Brown,     1971), 13-23.

Brathwaite, Edward. “Caliban.” In The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy (Oxford     University Press, 1973), 191-95.

Carlin, Murray. Not Now, Sweet Desdemona (Oxford University Press).

Gurik, Robert. Hamlet, Prince of Québec. Trans. Leanore Lieblein. In A Certain     William: Adapting Shakespeare in Francophone Canada, ed. Leanore Lieblein    (Playwrights Canada Press, 2009), 1-63.

Lamming, George. “A Monster, A Child, A Slave.” In The Pleasures of Exile (Michael     Joseph, 1960), 95-117.

Mannoni, Octave. “Crusoe and Prospero.” In Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of     Colonization, trans. Pamela Powesland (University of Michigan Press, 1990), 97-109. Msomi, Welcome. uMabatha. In Adaptations of Shakespeare, ed. Daniel Fischlin and     Mark Fortier (Routledge, 2000), 164-87. 

Osofisan, Femi. Wẹsóo, Hamlet! In African Theatre 12: Shakespeare in & out of Africa,     ed. Jane Plastow (James Currey, 2013), 134-84.

Retamar, Roberto Fernández. “Toward the History of Caliban.” In Caliban and Other    Essays, trans. Edward Baker (University of Minnesota Press, 1989), 6-14.

Smiley, Jane. “Shakespeare in Iceland.” In Transforming Shakespeare: Contemporary    Women’s Re-visions in Literature and Performance, ed. Marianne Novy (Palgrave     Macmillan, 2000), 159-79.

COVID-19

If case numbers continue to rise this fall, it may not be possible to conduct this class in its current format for the entire semester. If COVID-19 forces the University to cancel in-person classes temporarily or permanently, we will move online for the length of the cancellation, holding our weekly class meetings virtually in our (already-scheduled) Wednesday meeting time. In this case I will also set up additional dropboxes in LEARN so that you can submit your essay assignments according to the course schedule.

Please note that the University has established the following COVID-19-related guidelines:

• Absence: Students shall not attend class if they are experiencing influenza-like illness, have been in close contact with someone who is ill, or have travelled outside of Canada within the past 14 days. In the event of absence due to influenza-like illness or required self-isolation, students shall submit an Illness Self-declaration. Students can find the Illness Self-declaration form in the Personal Information section of Quest. A doctor’s note for accommodation is not required.
• Face coverings: Wearing of face-covering/mask is a requirement in all common areas on campus, including all indoor instructional spaces. o    As such, no food is allowed to be consumed in instructional space. Beverages are allowed if a straw is used or if the mask is lowered only for a brief period. o          When a student asks or answers a question it may be difficult for them to be heard while wearing a mask. A student may briefly lower their mask to ask/answer the question and then the mask must be replaced.
• Hand hygiene: Students are expected to practice frequent hand hygiene (handwashing with soap and water or use of hand sanitizer), including immediately before coming into an instructional space
• Seating: Students are permitted to sit where they wish. For fall term, many classes have enrolments only up to 50% of seating capacity. Students are encouraged to sit with one seat left empty between them and other students when possible.

I will treat required self-isolation as an excusable absence.

Class and University Policies

While you will submit your response papers through the dropboxes in LEARN, you must turn in a paper copy of your two formal essays to receive credit. Late essays will be accepted without penalty only if prior permission has been granted; otherwise, the penalty will be 2% per day, including weekends. Sending me an electronic copy of a late essay will stop the late clock, but a paper copy must also be turned in directly to me.

I will normally reply to email messages within 24 hours, weekends excepted. In the case of emails requiring lengthy replies, I may recommend a WebEx meeting.

All sources of information that you use in your written work in this class must be cited fully and scrupulously. If I suspect that you have committed an academic offense, including plagiarism, I will report it to the Associate Dean; if the offense is confirmed, the normal result is a failing grade on the assignment and a further five marks off the course grade.

 

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage, https://uwaterloo.ca/arts/current-undergraduates/studentsupport/ethical-behaviour, for more information. 

Discipline 

Students are expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their actions. Check the Office of Academic Integrity, https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/, for more information. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration, should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat-general-counsel/policies-proceduresguidelines/policy-71. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties, https://uwaterloo.ca/secretariat/guidelines/guidelines-assessment-penalties.