Romantic Shakespeare: From Stage to Page by Younglim Han (review)

Abstract

Reviews Reviews tricky service, as websites tend to change within short periods of time -and succeeded by a well-orderedindex. Cross-referencing,too, is decisivefor the success of a companion, and here more care should have been taken:the overview sections refer the reader to individual entries, but not the other way round: there is no indication, for instance, in the section on Andrea Levy, that one of her novels is discussed extensively in the 'Bildungsroman' entry. Sometimes separate entries seem unnecessaryand repetitive,such as the ones on Salman Rushdie himself and a separateone on the Rushdie affair.Goodness Gracious Me!is neither mentioned nor cross-referencedin the entryon 'radiocomedy', but there is a referencein the entry on 'Asian radio comedy'. With a project as ambitious as this, disagreementsas to selection and inclusion are unavoidable.A major problem, however, is Donnell's promise in the introduction that the companion covers the last thirtyyears up to 2001. The book was only published in early 2002, so it is hardly surprisingthat she cannot always come up to her own strict expectations, especially in a field as productive as Black British culture. But while the failure to include Shyama Perera's second novel (Bittersweet Symphonyof 2000 her third one was only published in 2002) seems a slight mishap, it is inexcusable not to mention Nana Wilson-Tagoe as the co-editor of David Dabydeen's seminal A Reader's Guideto WestIndianandBlackBritishLiterature, and to cite the firstedition of I988, ratherthan the revisedand extended edition of 1997.A majorshortcomingis the omission of any blackpirate radio stations-one wonders whether this is the result of careful strategicconsiderationor just neglect. Especiallyin the I98os, these stations,among them Horizon Radio,Solar,and Kissioo, were influentialin spreadingreggae and soul music and eventuallyforcingthe main stationsto include more of this music in theirprogramme.Surprisingly,this is a fact that not even the entry on reggae mentions. Other, maybe minor, omissions are Bangla-TV, the comedian Ali G (he is mentioned, but not in a separate entry), KelpRa, which promotes black writing, Bittersweet, a volume of poetry by black women that was succeeded by successfulpoetry readingsthroughoutthe UK, actors Thomas Baptiste (the first black actor in Coronation Street) and Mona Hammond, and writerssuch as Bidisha,Ray Anthony, Simi Bedford,AbdullahHussein, Atima Srivastava,and Alex Wheatle. There are a few obvious errors,such as two contradictorydates for Sonia Boyce'sfirstsolo exhibition, and a confusionof the Adebayo brothersin the 'X Press'entry. Despite these gaps and inconsistencies, this remarkable companion is packed with information and revelations, and will surely become an indispensable guide to anyone researchingblackBritishculturalproduction.Because of the dynamicsof the field, a revisedand enlargededition is something to look forwardto in the near future. UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA SUSANNE REICHL Romantic Shakespeare: FromStagetoPage.By YOUNGLIM HAN.Cranbury,NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press;London: Associated University Presses. 2001. 252 pp. ?34. ISBN:0-8386-3873-2. This book begins by tracingthrough the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the divergenceof studiesof Shakespeareon the page and on the stage, and it closes tricky service, as websites tend to change within short periods of time -and succeeded by a well-orderedindex. Cross-referencing,too, is decisivefor the success of a companion, and here more care should have been taken:the overview sections refer the reader to individual entries, but not the other way round: there is no indication, for instance, in the section on Andrea Levy, that one of her novels is discussed extensively in the 'Bildungsroman' entry. Sometimes separate entries seem unnecessaryand repetitive,such as the ones on Salman Rushdie himself and a separateone on the Rushdie affair.Goodness Gracious Me!is neither mentioned nor cross-referencedin the entryon 'radiocomedy', but there is a referencein the entry on 'Asian radio comedy'. With a project as ambitious as this, disagreementsas to selection and inclusion are unavoidable.A major problem, however, is Donnell's promise in the introduction that the companion covers the last thirtyyears up to 2001. The book was only published in early 2002, so it is hardly surprisingthat she cannot always come up to her own strict expectations, especially in a field as productive as Black British culture. But while the failure to include Shyama Perera's second...