Shakespeare continues to feature in construction and refashioning of national cultures and identities in variety of forms. Recent discussions about have forced us to re-assess what we mean by Shakespeare, for is not only something pertaining to past, going backwards in time to an origin, but also refers to original interpretations of Shakespeare in modern culture, which break away from tradition, and provide modern reformulations. In light of these views that demand revaluation of Shakespeare as an author, we need to rethink idea of Shakespeare's today in variety of places and forms. But first we should clarify what we understand by originality, or being as term can be confusing since it is often related to authenticity, innovation, creativity and imitation. Besides, how many ways of being are there? Is it only due to genius of artist, to appreciation of critic or to culture of reader/spectator, if we take culture as a mental construct which fuses together elements of myth and history, desire and projection, imagination, and accomplishment.1 We should also take into account contested legacy of of post-colonial Shakespeares in former British possessions as well as post-national Shakespeares which have become focus of debates concerning national mythologizing and multiculturalism. Originality is, therefore, complex topic that needs further consideration. Some have attempted to define what makes Shakespeare by referring to his uniqueness in order to explain his genius in some way. As Jonathan Bate claims, 'Genius' was category to account for what was peculiar about Shakespeare.2 If he had not been and had been deemed to be just same as every other writer, then he would not be held in such high regard four hundred years on. It might also be argued, as Edwards Said observed, that since the writer thinks of writing originally, and more of rewriting, image of writing changes from inscription to parallel script, from tumbled-out our confidence to deliberate fathering-forth.3 Thus re-writing transcends imitation and origins.The volume, therefore, explores new ways of appropriating, interpreting and re-producing Shakespeare today in different cultures and contexts in accordance with particular interests and anxieties, showing ideological tension inherent in local versus global, in versus other forms and reproductions. Within theoretical framework, Marcela Kostihova's paper is concerned with question of authentically original, proposing re-definition of what we mean by originality and authenticity today, and their ideological and social implications, since our readings and interpretations of texts are firmly anchored in pressures of present. She shows how tension between two concepts causes further trouble when we come to deal with original/authentic Shakespeare in global economy, where these two concepts have become central in market. If meaning is ideologically produced at point of consumption, erasing meaning-making mechanism of source-culture, what do we mean, then, by within consumer culture? In this way, she calls into question possibility of making Shakespeare today, as her reading of Twelfth Night illustrates. Since our interpretations are always changing, depending on commodification of individualized subjectivity and selective consumption, Shakespeare's remains perpetually elusive in world that constantly re-creates values.The articles by Martin Prochazka and Paul Innes deal with process by which Shakespeare has been transformed into national icon, which, in some ways, has become normatively constitutive of national identity as seen in re-writings of his plays in particular historical context, where mythologizing takes place. …
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Open Access
Dec 1, 2023
Lintang Ruhil Hidayah + 1
