Shakespeare in the World: Cross-Cultural Adaptation in Europe and Colonial India, 1850–1900

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Shakespeare in the World traces the reception histories and adaptations of Shakespeare in the nineteenth century, when his works became well-known to non-Anglophone communities in both Europe and colonial India. Sen provides thorough and searching examinations of nineteenth-century theatrical, operatic, novelistic, and prose adaptations that are still read and performed, in order to argue that, crucial to the transmission and appeal of Shakespeare’s plays were the adaptations they generated in a wide range of media. These adaptations, in turn, made the absorption of the plays into different "national" cultural traditions possible, contributing to the development of "nationalist cosmopolitanisms" in the receiving cultures. Sen challenges the customary reading of Shakespeare reception in terms of "hegemony" and "mimicry," showing instead important parallels in the practices of Shakespeare adaptation in Europe and colonial India. Shakespeare in the World strikes a fine balance between the Bard’s iconicity and his colonial and post-colonial afterlives, and is an important contribution to Shakespeare studies. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents List of Musical Examples Acknowledgements Preliminary Notes Introduction Shakespeare’s Reception in Non-Anglophone Cultures: Analytical Paradigms Theorising Shakespeare Reception Relationally Shakespeare and “Nationalist Cosmopolitanism” Adaptation Theory and Cross-Cultural Receptions of Shakespeare The Case Studies: Patterns and Interconnections Part 1 1 Shakespeare Reception in France: Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet and Its Intertexts Introduction Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Texts and Performances up to the Nineteenth Century Hamlet in France: From Ducis to Dumas and Meurice Thomas’s Hamlet as Opéra Lyrique The Operatic Ophélie The Afterlife of Thomas’s Hamlet 2 Nationalism and Aesthetic Self-Fashioning: Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello Introduction Jealousy and Vengeance in Othello and Otello (i): Racial Discourses Jealousy and Vengeance in Othello and Otello (ii): Religious Discourses Jealousy and Vengeance in Othello and Otello (iii): The Pressures of Patriarchy Verdi’s Musical Choices and the Subversion of Racial Stereotypes regarding Jealousy Conclusion Part 2 3 Challenging the Civilising Mission: Responses to The Tempest by Bankimchandra Chatterjee and Rabindranath Tagore Introduction Bankim and Bengali Literature After 1857 Bankim’s Life and Literary Career Kapālakunḍalā: Plot and Intertexts The Tempest, Kapālakunḍalā, and Women in Nineteenth-Century Bengal (i): A Historical Perspective The Tempest, Kapālakunḍalā, and Women in Nineteenth-Century Bengal (ii): A Symbolic Perspective Bankim, Tagore, and the Reception History of The Tempest 4 Two Contrasting Cases of Transculturation of Shakespeare From Nineteenth-Century Bengal: Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar’s Bhrāntivilās and Girishchandra Ghosh’s Macbeth Introduction Part I: Vidyasagar’s Bhrāntivilās Life and Times of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar Rereading The Comedy of Errors: Bhrāntivilās and Its Intertexts Bhrāntivilās and Feminist Readings of Errors Part II: Girishchandra Ghosh’s Macbeth The Life and Career of Girishchandra Ghosh Girishchandra Ghosh’s Macbeth: A Case of Colonial Mimicry? Conclusion Conclusion Adaptation Studies: Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches Nationalist Cosmopolitanism and Post-Colonial Mimicry Cross-Cultural Shakespeare and New Analytical Frameworks Appendix 1 “Imitation” Appendix 2 “Śakuntalā, Miranda, and Desdemona” References Index