Schedule / Horaires
Saturday 26 April 2014, 15h-17h.
Room: V106A.
Leaders / Organisateurs
Michelle Assay, Universities of Paris-Sorbonne (France) and Sheffield (UK), and David Fanning, University of Manchester (UK)
Participants
- Michelle Assay, Université Paris-Sorbonne (France) and University of Sheffield (UK)
Akimov and Shostakovich’s Hamlet: a Soviet ‘Shakesperiment’ - Zorica Bečanović-Nikolić, University of Belgrade (Serbia)
Shakespeare’s Tercentenary in Serbian Poetry - Chris Berchild, Indiana State University (USA)
Designing the Bohemian Coast: Twentieth Century Czech Appropriations of Shakespearean Space and Place - Frank W. Brevik, Savannah State University (USA)
East European Shakespeare Pre- and Post-1989: A Formalist Presentism? - Jana Bžochová-Wild, Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava (Slovakia)
Tracking (Foot)prints of Shakespeare in Slovak - Anna Cetera, University of Warsaw (Poland)
I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue: The Slavic Sounds of Shakespeare - Refik Kadija, “Luigi Gurkauqi” University of Shkodër (Albania)
History of Shakespeare’s Translations into Albanian and the Stage Production of Shakespeare’s Plays in Albania - Natalia Khomenko, York University (Canada)
Seeing Double: Cultural Appropriation and Shakespearean Characters in the Soviet Novel - Jiri Kopecky, Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic)
William Shakespeare and Czech National Music - Gabriela Łazarkiewicz, University of Warsaw (Poland)
Shoah and The Tempest in Poland: The Productions of 1938 (dir. Leon Schiller) and of 2003 (dir. Krzysztof Warlikowski) - Ivona Mišterová, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic)
“Hurry, hurry and love, what thou shall not see twice”: The Shakespeare Festival at the National Theatre in Prague in 1916 - Madalina Nicolaescu, University of Bucharest (Romania)
Shakespeare Studies in Socialist Romania - Alexandra Portmann, University of Berne (Switzerland)
Who is Fortinbras after the siege of Dubrovnik? Staging Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 1994 - Irina Prikhodko, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russia)
Russian translations of Shakespeare’s Sonnets - Gabriella Reuss, Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Hungary)
Appropriations of Shakespeare in 1838: Experimenting with the tragic and the pathetic in England and Hungary - Andrzej Wicher, University of Łódź (Poland)
Wawel meets Elsinore. The National and Universal Aspects of Stanisław Wyspiański’s Vision of Shakespeare’s Hamlet - Oana-Alis Zaharia, “Dimitrie Cantemir” University of Bucharest (Romania)
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…” Nineteenth-Century Romanian Macbeth(s)
Abstracts / Résumés
1. Michelle Assay, Université Paris-Sorbonne (France) and University of Sheffield (UK)
Akimov and Shostakovich’s Hamlet: a Soviet ‘Shakesperiment’
When in 1932 Nikolay Akimov made his directing debut with Hamlet, nobody expected to witness one of the greatest scandals of Russian/Soviet theatrical history. With Ophelia portrayed as a drunken prostitute, and Hamlet by a short, fat comedian, it is hardly surprising that critical opinion should have been sharply divided, agreeing only that Dmitry Shostakovich’s equally irreverent music was the best thing about the production. This paper suggests an understanding of Akimov’s intentions more grounded in documentary evidence, not least in relation to Shostakovich’s music, which, paradoxically, may have been too skilful for the good of the production.
2. Zorica Bečanović-Nikolić, University of Belgrade (Serbia)
Shakespeare’s Tercentenary in Serbian Poetry
Narrative poem On Shakespeare’s Tercentenary, written by Serbian Romantic poet Laza Kostić, begins with an inter-textual reminiscence of the Book of Genesis, which flows into a dialogue with Shakespeare’s works. The beginning glorifies Shakespeare as masterpiece of God’s creation, and its human continuation. The initial third person narrative switches into a dialogical second person, and the poetic voice speaks directly to Shakespeare and his characters until the end of the poem. Invocations of characters bring condensed interpretations of various plays while the poet expresses a ‘presentist’ – avant la lettre – thinking about Shakespeare and Serbian culture in the nineteenth century.
3. Chris Berchild, Indiana State University (USA)
Designing the Bohemian Coast: Twentieth Century Czech Appropriations of Shakespearean Space and Place
Throughout the twentieth century and the history of the Czechoslovak state, many Czech scenographers and directors blazed new international trails by using the varied dramatic locations of Shakespeare in new and innovative ways. This paper will engage in a historical and semiotic analysis of specific Czechoslovak Shakespearean performances (specifically the scenographic work of designers František Tröster and Josef Svoboda) and their approaches to space and place that created a clear and public commentary on the political, social, and artistic status of Czechoslovakia. Their manipulation and appropriation of space and place to comment upon Czech society became a model for political theatre internationally.
4. Frank W. Brevik, Savannah State University (USA)
East European Shakespeare Pre- and Post-1989: A Formalist Presentism?
My paper argues that to subject Shakespeare to a “Russian Formalist” analysis is in itself a fruitful Presentist manoeuvre in 2014, bringing not only increased insights into the primary Shakespeare texts themselves but also provides a “prophetic” reflection-before-the-fact on the nature and future of literary criticism. I draw on Boris Tomashevsky’s essay “Thematics” from 1925 to show how limited a political-revolutionary (then) or Presentist-radical (now) “interest” is as an artistic and aesthetic metric. Nevertheless, this critical fusion between Russian Formalism and Presentism problematizes its topical origins and post-1989 paradigms, the Shakespearean focus being spying in Hamlet and The Tempest.
5. Jana Bžochová-Wild, Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava (Slovakia)
Tracking (Foot)prints of Shakespeare in Slovak
The paper examines the book editions of Shakespeare in Slovak as part of shifting literary, cultural and social contexts. The focus is on questions such as: what functions these books fulfil in society; what values they facilitate and create; how do they interpolate their literary or theatrical status; to what extent they support or suppress foreignness; what audience they address; which cultural and political factors acted on the Slovak rewriting of Shakespeare; what the different books are missing and what cultural deficits this particular absence indicates. Broadly speaking: what construction of Shakespeare do they generate in Slovak culture.
6. Anna Cetera, University of Warsaw (Poland)
I see it in my motion, have it not in my tongue: The Slavic Sounds of Shakespeare
My paper sets to explore the specificity of the Slavic translations of Shakespeare with some special emphasis on the prosodic features of Slavic languages. Preceded by a general discussion of the sounds and rhythms of Slavic languages, the paper presents the overview of the translations strategies (both imitative and compensating) used by Slavic translators to deal with the challenges of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter.
7. Refik Kadija, “Luigi Gurkauqi” University of Shkodër (Albania)
History of Shakespeare’s Translations into Albanian and the Stage Production of Shakespeare’s Plays in Albania
Part I. Translations: 1) The earliest translations by Fan Noli. 2) Communist censorship in the translation of twelve plays during 1950-1990. 3) Translation of Shakespeare’s works after 1990. Part II. Production in Albania and Kosovo. 1) Aleksander Moisiu played Hamlet, Romeo, Othello, etc., staged by Max Reinhardt. 2) Production of Shakespeare’s plays by National Theatre, etc. 3) Amateur production by English students, Tirana University, in 1964, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birthday; by the students of the Academy of Fine Arts, Tirana; and by A.U.K.’s Theater Class, Kosovo directed by Marijs Boulogne.
8. Natalia Khomenko, York University (Canada)
Seeing Double: Cultural Appropriation and Shakespearean Characters in the Soviet Novel
This paper argues that, in Yury Olesha’s The Three Fat Men (1927) and Olga Larionova’s The Leopard from the Peak of Kilimanjaro (1965), the uncanny doubling of the Shakespearean girl character reflects the fraught process of refashioning Shakespeare into a proto-Soviet playwright. The awareness that an ideologically correct version of Shakespeare can be created only through a policy of determined misprision, and that the reality of his texts lurks in the background, manifests in the girl character’s existence as both a dedicated supporter of the revolutionary cause and the artificial double, deeply alien to the new, communist world.
9. Jiri Kopecky, Palacký University Olomouc (Czech Republic)
William Shakespeare and Czech National Music
When Prague celebrated Schiller´s anniversary in 1859 both main nationalities – Czech and German – shared all festivities. But after October diploma 1860 such kind of cooperation was no more possible. One of the first demonstrations of strong Czech culture was Shakespearean celebration in 1864, which was organised only by Czechs as an symbolic return of „perdita ars bohemica“ into Czech lands. Bedřich Smetana as well as Antonín Dvořák were interested in Shakespeare´s works. Around 1900, two operas based on Shakespeare´s plays were composed: The Tempest (Zdeněk Fibich) and Jessika (J. B. Foerster).
10. Gabriela Łazarkiewicz, University of Warsaw (Poland)
Shoah and The Tempest in Poland: The Productions of 1938 (dir. Leon Schiller) and of 2003 (dir. Krzysztof Warlikowski)
Notwithstanding the customary association of The Tempest with the postcolonial discourse, there are two significant Polish productions of the play which link it with the history of Shoah. First, in 1938, a Jewish theatrical ensemble transformed the play into a poignant parable about the Jewish people (represented by Prospero’s intellectual heritage) tormented by Nazism (prefigured by the brutal force of Caliban). Secondly, in 2003, Krzysztof Warlikowski inscribed his production of The Tempest into the context of the painful national debate about Polish-Jewish relations during and shortly afterwards of the Second World War. Both productions appear crucial for the Polish reading of The Tempest.
11. Ivona Mišterová, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (Czech Republic)
“Hurry, hurry and love, what thou shall not see twice”: The Shakespeare Festival at the National Theatre in Prague in 1916
This paper examines how the Shakespeare play cycle was staged at the National Theatre in Prague in 1916 in terms of the critical reception of particular productions; e.g. The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, Hamlet, and Macbeth, in theatre reviews published in Czech periodicals. I will argue that, in a time of distress, Shakespearean drama served as an effective communication channel by offering spiritual consolation, courage, and a new perspective on the future.
12. Madalina Nicolaescu, University of Bucharest (Romania)
Shakespeare Studies in Socialist Romania
This paper will consider the ideologies and constraints governing Shakespeare studies in the socialist period, focusing on the period of the late sixties and early seventies, generally considered to be one of detente. Against this political and cultural background the paper will investigate the negotiation east-west, the penetration of “Western” approaches as opposed to those promoted by socialist realism, while at the same time looking into the reasons why the major site of Shakespeare studies was not the universities but the theatre and its journals.
13. Alexandra Portmann, University of Berne (Switzerland)
Who is Fortinbras after the siege of Dubrovnik? Staging Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 1994
Since the 1950s Shakespeare’s Hamlet was regularly performed at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. With this vivid staging tradition in mind, the paper focuses on two versions of Hamlet, namely the classical performance directed by Joško Juvančić, and the performance of Luko Paljetak’s meta-theatrical adaptation “Poslje Hamleta”. Both performances premiered in 1994, only two years after the siege of Dubrovnik. Through a comparative perspective, this paper examines the function of Fortinbras in these two performances and raises the question how Hamlet becomes a mirror of the changing political and cultural circumstances.
14. Irina Prikhodko, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russia)
Russian translations of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Despite their enormous popularity and numerous translations and editions in Russia during the last 70 years, Shakespeare’s Sonnets still remain terra incognita for Russian readers not acquainted with Shakespeare’s famous series of poems in the original. Multiple translations which appeared in this period experience a strong influence of Samuel Marshak who published his translation of the whole book of Shakespeare’s Sonnets in 1947. Highly appreciated by the literary critics and readers, his translation was considered an exemplary one. But actually it was far from Shakespeare’s own poetics. In my paper I will compare samples of various Russian translations to Shakespeare’s own text.
15. Gabriella Reuss, Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Hungary)
Appropriations of Shakespeare in 1838: Experimenting with the tragic and the pathetic in England and Hungary
Coincidentally in 1838, Macready in England and Egressy in Hungary chose to act the “original” Shakespeare in their impersonations of Lear. Macready insisted on acting the Shakespearean words, dismissing the melodramatic and happily ending version by Nahum Tate that held the stage for a hundred and fifty years, thus producing the first full restoration of King Lear in London. Egressy insisted on acting the Shakespearean words, dismissing all Hungarian play-texts translated from German which held the stage for decades, thus producing the first Lear translated from English in Pest-Buda. The paper explores their inventive impersonations and their lasting impacts.
16. Andrzej Wicher, University of Łódź (Poland)
Wawel meets Elsinore. The National and Universal Aspects of Stanisław Wyspiański’s Vision of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
The paper is to show the possibilities, and limits of Wyspiański’s national thinking through Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Very important here is the Ghost, who can be interpreted as the spirit of history, the ghost of a father, the spirit of the fatherland, the voice of the ancestors, the Holy Ghost, and the Evil Spirit. Hamlet served the Polish poet as itself a ghost standing for “the truth of other worlds” that can, however, be made relevant to the world he cared the most about, the city of Cracow conceived of as Poland’s spiritual, that is ‘ghostly’, and only virtual, capital.
17. Oana-Alis Zaharia, “Dimitrie Cantemir” University of Bucharest (Romania)
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…” Nineteenth-Century Romanian Macbeth(s)
The paper sets out to examine the first Romanian translations of Macbeth by St.Bîgescu (1850) and P.P.Carp (1864, 1886) from a cultural perspective. The first part offers a comprehensive overview of the cultural and historical context that saw the emergence and development of the prolific 19th century translation activity. The second part aims to reveal the manner in which the Shakespearean play is appropriated by means of translation in order to make it conform to different cultural and political agendas.