Rethinking Shakespeare and Italy: Cultural Exchanges from the Early Modern Period to the Present, ed. by Enza De Francisci and Chris Stamatakis (Routledge: Studies in Shakespeare Series)

This volume brings together international scholars from English literature, Italian studies, drama, and linguistics, as well as actors and playwrights, and offers new perspectives on the vibrant relationships that can be traced between Shakespeare and Italy from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. Besides offering a selection of individual examples of exchanges from Shakespeare’s own time to the present, this volume also ventures more theoretical paradigms to explain the fascinating dynamics by which exchange between Shakespeare and Italy is a two-way process. It is not simply that the literary, dramatic, and linguistic culture of Renaissance Italy shaped Shakespeare’s drama in his own time, but rather that, as this book shows by tracing his literary afterlife, Shakespeare’s plays helped shape Italian artistic culture in the ensuing centuries, in the realms of drama, opera, novels, and film. Unifying the chapters in this book is an interest in how Shakespeare’s drama represents, enacts, and becomes the subject of exchanges across the national, political, and cultural boundaries separating England and Italy.

Abstracts of approximately 250 words are sought for essays that address any period and any aspect of exchange between Shakespeare and Italian culture. Essays can be either empirical or more theoretical in nature, and can explore any mode of cultural interchange – from theatrical influences in either direction, to the cross-border travel of actors and acting troupes, to the artistic and political afterlife of Shakespeare’s plays in Italy, to the polyglot, linguistic exchanges that take place through translation, to name a few. The deadline for submissions is 12 December, 2014. Abstracts should be sent to e.francisci@ucl.ac.uk, and will be subjected to peer review. First drafts of chapters (c. 6,000 words) should then be submitted to the editors ideally by March 2015.

So far, the volume includes chapters and case studies on the following areas:
– Shakespeare’s representation of travel in Italy – Shakespeare and Florio – Shakespeare’s relationship with the commedia dell’arte – Shakespeare’s early reception in Italy – Verdi’s operatic adaptations of Shakespeare – Performances of Shakespeare by the Italian grandi attori – Early Hebrew translations of Shakespeare’s plays set in Italy – Adaptations of Shakespeare in Fascist Italy – Strehler’s staging of Shakespeare’s histories – Recent stage and screen adaptations of Shakespeare by Italian translators and playwrights.

For any questions or further information, please do not hesitate to contact e.francisci@ucl.ac.uk or c.stamatakis@ucl.ac.uk.