Shakespeare in Asia
Contemporary Performance

Contributors from a wide variety of backgrounds debate how and why Shakespeare has been used and reinvented in contemporary Asia.

Dennis Kennedy (Edited by), Yong Li Lan (Edited by)

9781107693739, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 January 2014

304 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

'Fresh, illuminating and well-structured, Kennedy and Lan's volume is more than a mere welcome and an interesting contribution to the field of Shakespeare in Asia, and, thanks to its added political, theoretical and ideological dimensions, it will become an indispensable reference for future research.' Sederi Yearbook of the Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies

Addressing both theoretical and practical questions surrounding Shakespeare in contemporary Asia, this book asks why Shakespeare has been of use in these vast regions of the world that have no need to call on him. By investigating some of the ways Shakespeare has been reinvented and deployed, the study notes the differences between standard western approaches and those that can be seen in Japan, China, India, and South East Asia. The contributors come from a wide variety of backgrounds and traditions, West and East, and present distinctive, and sometimes conflicting, views on topics as diverse as speaking Shakespeare in Japanese, the importation and exportation of Shakespeare in Asia, and the uses of the English national poet in Indian film and Japanese popular culture. The debates which occur within the book highlight the diversity of production and reception for the world's most popular playwright, whose work is now global cultural capital.

1. Introduction: why Shakespeare? Dennis Kennedy and Li Lan Yong
Part I. Voice and Body: 2. Shakespeare and the Natyasastra John Russell Brown
3. Speaking Shakespeare in Japanese: voicing the foreign Daniel Gallimore
4. Shakespeare and Beijing opera: two cases of appropriation Fei Chunfang and Sun Huizhu
Part II. Shakespeare in Asian Popular Cultures: 5. All that remains of Shakespeare in Indian film Richard Burt
6. Shakespeare for Japanese popular culture Minami Ryuta
7. Shakespeare's villains in Japan Kumiko Hilberdink-Sakamoto
Part III. Transacting Cultures: 8. Import/export: Japanizing Shakespeare Suematsu Michiko
9. Millennium Shashibiya: Shakespeare in the Chinese-speaking worlds Li Ruru
10. Ong Keng Sen's intercultural Shakespeare Yong Li Lan
Part IV. Intercultural Politics: 11. What use Shakespeare? China and globalization Shen Lin
12. Shakespeare and the question of intercultural performance John Phillips
13. Foreign Asia/foreign Shakespeare: dissenting notes on New Asian interculturality, postcoloniality and re-colonization Rustom Bharucha.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Shakespeare plays [DDS], Literature & literary studies [D]