Abstract
Digital humanities has a Shakespeare problem; or, to frame it more broadly, a canon problem. This essay begins by demonstrating why we need to consider Shakespeare’s position in the digital landscape, recognizing that Shakespeare’s prominence in digital sources stems from his cultural prominence. I describe the Shakespeare/not Shakespeare divide in digital humanities projects and then turn to digital editions to demonstrate how Shakespeare’s texts are treated differently from his contemporaries—and often isolated by virtue of being placed alone on their pedestal. In the final section, I explore the implications of Shakespeare’s popularity to digital humanities projects, some of which exist solely because of Shakespeare’s status. Shakespeare’s centrality to the canon of digital humanities reflects his reputation in wider spheres such as education and the arts. No digital project will offer a complete, unmediated view of the past, or, indeed, the present. Ultimately, each project implies an argument about the status of Shakespeare, and we—as Shakespeareans, early modernists, digital humanists, humanists, and scholars—must determine what arguments we find persuasive and what arguments we want to make with the new projects we design and implement.
Highlights
Digital humanities has a Shakespeare problem; or, to frame it more broadly, a canon problem.Too many digital projects and sites focus on Shakespeare alone
Humanities 2019, 8, 45 humanities project presents an argument about the status of Shakespeare, and we—as Shakespeareans, early modernists, digital humanists, humanists, and scholars—must determine what arguments we find persuasive and what arguments we want to make with the new projects we design and implement
The questions less often asked are: when we focus on Shakespeare(s) in our digital projects, what is excluded by our Shakespeare-centrism? And how does that shape how we access and understand early modern drama? Digital Shakespeare studies often focuses on Shakespeare’s place in the digital world, without questioning why he is given such primacy and the ramifications of his continued canonization
Summary
Digital humanities has a Shakespeare problem; or, to frame it more broadly, a canon problem. 143): the rarity and fragility of the material objects; their locations in libraries around the world; and the lack of Shakespearean manuscript texts This rationale, while a compelling argument for why we need to digitize and encode all early modern play quartos, hardly touches on why Shakespeare is the focus of the project. Described itself as “a project devoted to the collaborative curation of non-Shakespearean plays from Shakespeare’s world.” Despite offering a digital humanities project that recognizes and pushes back against Shakespeare’s centrality to early modern drama studies, Shakespeare His. Contemporaries’s self-definition (“non-Shakespearean”), title (Shakespeare His Contemporaries), and scope (“Shakespeare’s world”) all gravitate around Shakespeare. Shakespeare alongside his contemporaries or by highlighting the historical moments that led to Shakespeare’s current position as cultural touchstone
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