Collaborations with the past: Reshaping Shakespeare across Time and Media by Diane E. Henderson (review)

Abstract

288 Reviews persuasively. He isan acute and patient reader both ofMilton's poetry and his prose. His insights into Milton's writings are frequent and continuous. Milton's PeculiarGrace is a rewarding read. UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA JOADRAYMOND Collaborationswith thePast: Reshaping Shakespeareacross Time andMedia. By DLANE E. HENDERSON. Ithaca, NY Cornell University Press.2006.Xi+ 289pp. C24.95.ISBN: 978-0-80o4-44I9-7. 'Books descend from books as families from families' (p. I04). This quotation from Virginia Woolf's The Leaning Towerat the beginning of Diana E. Henderson's second chapter provides a premise with which to introduce her book Collaborations with the Past. For each literary,theatrical and filmicproduction, there exists a 'prologue' an influ ential source, oftenmultiple, thathas come before be ita play, a past production, or history itself. For Henderson's purpose, the reoccurring past collaborator forall artistic formsdiscussed isShakespeare. In Part i, 'Novel Transformations', Henderson discussesWalter Scott and Virginia Woolf in two consecutive chapters. Henderson suggests that both Scott and Woolf's collaboration with Shakespeare do not involve direct replication of theShakespearean 'urtext',but deal in a series of echoes, allowing fora greater impactwhen thenovelists' 'Shake-shifting' inverts the natural trajectory of Shakespeare's classics. For example, whilst Othello'sDesdemona is led to the outskirts of civilization tomeet her demise, Scott's Kenilworth heroine Amy is led from themarginal to the court: the threat is found 'at thevery core of "civilization"' (p. 53). ForHenderson, thisshadow upon theEnglish court ties toScott's position as a Scot, writing as an Englishman. Scott's own 'border line' politics infiltrates his novel, linking with his earlymodern predecessor. Othello'sracial aspects are replaced with the emergence of the 'Celtic other', reflectingcollaboration not onlywith the textbutwith personal political policies. Both chapters proceed todiscuss the afterlifeof Kenilworth and Mrs Dalloway. Further collaborations, on thepart of those involvedwith the stage/screen production of these texts,are evident in the creation of an Anglophilic' stage version of Kenilworth and in the significance of the actors' professional past in the process of a new production of Mrs Dalloway. These issues are taken further in the second part of Henderson's text, 'Media Crossings', inher discussion of The Tamingof the Shrewand Henry V. Whilst highlighting the nature of The Tamingof the Shrew's relationshipwith Shake speare, history,and past productions, Henderson's thirdchapter also directs the reader towards a consideration of Shakespeare's collaboration with a modern language. This isachieved through thediscussion of Shakespearean 'spin offs' such as KissMe, Petrucio and Io ThingsI Hate AboutYou, inwhich similar inversions,apparent inScott andWoolf, are demonstrated through theplay's collaboration with thepresent. The significance of modern 'reshaping' of the Shakespearean play is particularly demonstrated inHenderson's final chapter. Henry Vs Welsh connection inKenneth Branagh's production is thoroughly examined, looking inparticular at silent historical narrativeswithin themodern film.This emphasis isalso shown to speak to thepresent. YES, 38.I & 2, 2008 289 Henderson points to Tony Blair's limited relationship with theWelsh assembly, asserting that the 'Celtic Fringe' isonce again 'amatter of the moment', and therefore 'gives more weight to these choices of representingHenry r (p. 250). Collaborations with thePast highlights the use of Shakespeare as an 'urtext',but, as Henderson's argument unfolds, thiscollaborative relationshipwith Shakespeare does not lie in the linkingof text with textalone, but also with Shakespeare's own collaborative history,along with the impingement of the present. The text is extremely informative and engaging,with enough information toguide the reader effectivelythrough Hender son's arguments. In the introductionHenderson reiterates the claim that 'Every age creates itsown Shakespeare' (p. 3, citing Marjorie Garber). Henderson's work not only supports thisclaim, but demonstrates the truthof her title,that this 'Shakes-shifting' is not limited to time, but that every 'media crossing' also creates its own version of Shakespeare, based on collaborations with thepast- and thepresent. QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST RUTH ABRAHAM Back to Nature: The Green and the Real in the Late Renazssance.By ROBERT N. WATSON. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.2006.viii+ 437PP. p39. ISBN: 978-o-8I22-3905-8. This is a book distinguished by the degree towhich its reach exceeds itsgrasp. In it, Watson offers a sketch of a 'Unified Field Theory of seventeenth-century...