This module aims:

To introduce students to a range of ‘offshoot’ texts that rework Shakespeare's plays in a number of formats and genres (fiction, poetry, drama, graphic literature, and film) produced by writers from Britain, America, and elsewhere throughout the twentieth century;-

To address how Shakespeare's works and the 'Shakespeare myth' are figured, received, and understood through twentieth-century literary reworkings; -

To examine questions of influence, reception, and intertextuality in these 'offshoot' texts, which have a life and status different from straightforward 'adaptations', and to consider how these works are derivative yet 'original' and distinct as literary works; -

To explore how these writings interpret the text that they either continue or re-play or 'answer', revising how we see the original text and at other times subverting and dismantling it in more radical ways;-

To assess the social and political issues surrounding various writers' creative and imaginative engagements with Shakespeare in terms of (for example) gender, race, sexuality, nation, and ideas of culture.

(LO1) Acquire, develop, and demonstrate knowledge of the literary culture and history of the Shakespearean 'offshoot' (its writers, its forms, its issues) throughout the twentieth century and to the present.

(LO2) Acquire, develop, and demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the relationship between Shakespeare's works and their twentieth-century 'offshoots' through recognition of the intertextual and interpretative dialogues going on between them.

(LO3) Recognise this literature’s relationship to Shakespeare's life and works, and the broader social and political concerns surrounding creative and imaginative reworkings of them (e.g. in terms of gender, race, sexuality, nation, and questions of low or popular versus high culture).

(LO4) Analyse and discuss a range of texts (fiction, drama, poetry) in terms of their literary style, significance, and contexts, putting into practice advanced skills in textual analysis, critical reading, and writing.  

(LO5) Research, read, and think both independently and sensitively about the works studied at a specialised level.   

(LO6) Evaluate and communicate both your own and others’ ideas.

(S1) Written communication skills (style & argument, presentation & referencing)

(S2) Oral communication skills (speaking, listening, arguing, persuading)

(S3) Critical thinking and analytical skills

(S4) Project planning & development

(S5) Time management, discipline, & organisation

(S6) Team working & co-operating/communicating with others

(S7) Research skills (including identification and use of Library resources, and accessing online databases/research tools)

(S8) IT skills (including word processing and the use of online resources and electronic media)

This course examines a range of texts that rewrite, revise, and reinvent particular works by Shakespeare (e.g. The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, The Tempest, King Lear, Shakespeare’s Sonnets), as well as the 'life' of Shakespeare. These ‘offshoots’ were produced by writers and artists in Britain, America, and beyond, throughout the twentieth century: they encompass a variety of popular literary forms and genres, from fiction, biography, and drama to poetry, films/screenplays, and 'graphic literature' or comics.

Students may expect to study the following subjects and texts:

Re-inventing Hamlet: Tom Stoppard's play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967) and John Updike's novel, Gertrude and Claudius (2000);

Re-thinking The Tempest: Aimé Césaire's play (in translation), Une Tempête/A Tempest (1969) and W. H. Auden's poem, The Sea and the Mirror (1944);

Re-writing Shakespeare: Ar nold Wesker's play, The Merchant or Shylock (1976);

Lear's Afterlife: Edward Bond's play, Lear (1971) and Jane Smiley's novel, A Thousand Acres (1991);

Re-forming Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Philip Terry’s ‘Oulipo’ Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2010);

Shakespeare, Man & Myth: Anthony Burgess's novel, Nothing Like the Sun (1964); Edward Bond's play, Bingo (1973); Tom Stoppard's & Marc Norman's film/screenplay, Shakespeare in Love (1998); Ben Elton’s BBC television series Upstart Crow and film All is True (2018); and the 'Sandman' comic-book tales of A MIdsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest by Neil Gaiman;

Shakespeare's Wife: Robert Nye's novel Mrs Shakespeare: The Complete Works (1993);

Shakespeare Shorts: short stories by Robert Nye, Rudyard Kipling and Jorge Luis Borges.

Students will be encouraged to read (and to write upon in thei r assessed essays) material beyond the texts discussed in seminars, including other fictional or dramatic or poetic or cinematic reworkings of Shakespeare's plays, as well as offshoots produced in other media, whether in cinematic or comic-book form.

This module will be taught by 1 x weekly 1-hour tutorial with small group (F2F or online, as can be accommodated), and 1 x weekly 1-hour remote online workshops with whole cohort, plus group activities (as outlined below).

Teaching Method 1 - Tutorial
Description:
Attendance Recorded: Not yet decided
Notes: The purpose of the tutorial is to engage students in detailed discussion of the texts (one text per week), examining them in relation to specific issues (literary and critical, textual and contextual). These discussions require input, dialogue, and debate from all students involved. They are aimed at clarifying and developing a sophisticated understanding of each text within the framework of the module as a whole. They also provide important preparation, as well as help and guidance, for the module's assessment.

Teaching Method 2 - 1 x Workshop
Description:
Attendance Recorded: Not yet decided
Notes: The purpose of the workshop is t o engage students in further and wider detailed discussion of and reflection upon the texts in relation to specific issues (literary and critical, textual and contextual). These discussions require input, dialogue, and debate from all students involved. They are aimed at clarifying and developing further a sophisticated understanding of each text within the framework of the module as a whole.

Self-Directed Learning Description: Students are expected to undertake a great deal of independent study on this module, reading and re-reading the core texts as well as other material (primary and secondary/critical) relevant to them. Preparing for the seminars through directed reading is essential. This preparation will be supplemented further by the small group discussion meetings held outside and before the weekly seminar.