From Shakespeare to Sh(Web)speare

Shakespeare’s place in culture can only be captured by many relocations and recreations of his works in/via old and new media. From Shakespeare to Sh(Web)speare provides analysis of Shakespeare’s cultural presence in various spheres of human creative activity and in different locations, both in real and virtual worlds. The volume explores cultural significance of Shakespeare in a broad array of contexts: historical, social, and political; local and global; national and international; highbrow and popular. In order to demonstrate the multiplicity of perspectives used by scholars in Shakespeare studies, this collection of essays offers three approaches to Shakespeare: Polish, senesory, and popcultural. From Shakespeare to Sh(Web)speare demonstrates how cultural transformations of Shakespeare’s works, both using and constructing his cultural authority, have shaped his status as the world’s most popular playwright in high and popular cultural registers. The volume will appeal to Shakespeare scholars, cultural critics, students, and anyone with an interest in Shakespeare’s influence on cultures of the past and present.

Acknowledgments 7 Introduction 9 POLISH APPROACHES TO SHAKESPEARE 11 Romantic Shakespearations in Polish Culture: From Inspiration to Incorporation 13 Having Fun with Shakespeare: The Case of the Polish Cabaret’s Take on Shakespeare 41 SENSORY APPROACHES TO SHAKESPEARE 55 Sensory studies and the Mona Lisa of Literature, or Hamlet and the Senses 57 Sight as an Exclusively Male Sensory Domain: Speculations, Suspicions and Visions about Femininity in Olivier Parker’s Othello (1995) and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1996) 75 POPCULTURAL APPROACHES TO SHAKESPEARE: SH(WEB)SPEARE 89 NecrOphelia and the Strange Case of Afterlife 91 Index 115