SALON: From the 'enormous dunghill' to the 'garishly diverse': Shakespeare and Anti-Fandom
In 1623, poet and playwright Ben Jonson famously commemorated Shakespeare as “not of an age, but for all time.” Since that time, Shakespeare’s reputation and central place in the literary canon and as Britain’s national poet has only grown, such that today, Shakespeare enjoys cultural ubiquity in Britain and across the globe. However, from Robert Greene’s annoyance at his peer as an “upstart crow” in 1592, through Voltaire’s dismissal of the “enormous dunghill” of Shakespeare’s works in the eighteenth century, and down to the present, Shakespeare’s value and relevance has been continually challenged. Relatedly, amongst Shakespeare’s advocates, we observe regular debates about the ‘right’ way to perform and interpret his work, debates that can take the form of antagonism and trolling (such as in a recent Sunday Times television listing that mocked the 2018 RSC production of Romeo and Juliet for being “garishly diverse in casting”). Through the lens of anti-fandom, this salon aims to consider opposition or resistance to and within Shakespeare in a variety of forms and in various historical contexts, ranging from: attacks on the literary/theatrical quality of his works; the various strands of the authorship controversy; questions about his appropriateness for specific audiences or performers; hatewatching or hate-reading Shakespeare; gatekeeping and/or ‘purist’ arguments about Shakespearean ‘authenticity’ that seek to restrict access to his work by marginalized voices and interpretations. Ultimately, this salon asks, What does Shakespeare anti-fandom look like? What is at stake when policing authenticity? Can we think of Shakespeare – or interpretations of Shakespeare – as ‘bad objects’? And does relegating oppositional or resistant readings to the category of ‘anti’ simply reinforce problematic binaries? Participants are invited to discuss any texts in any medium that could inform this conversation.
Participants: Johnathan Pope (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Kavita Mudan Finn (Independent Scholar), Sophie Hanson (University of Warwick), Ronan Hatfull (University of Warwick), Taarini Mookherjee (Columbia University), Edel Semple (University College Cork) (moderator: Louisa Stein)
This event can be accessed by all members of the con:
- Create a conline account
- Join
- Come back here!