Shakespeare

[Karl Henning]

I don't know how much "lighter" it is, but as it arrived today: Olivier's Richard III.

And Martin Scorsese hosting discussion of the film's restoration. A friend (IRL) posted that King John is one of his favorite plays, so I'm watching. 

[Karl Henning]

And Martin Scorsese hosting discussion of the film's restoration. A friend (IRL) posted that King John is one of his favorite plays, so I'm watching.

I should never have guessed that King John would be the first of the Histories I watched. And now I've finished Henry V. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

I don't doubt usage of references to black or dark. The problem is the last step of linking that to a particular label and claiming that Claudius and Hamlet are somehow being portrayed as being a different race. Shakespeare knew how to depict a character as being a different race. He did it in other plays.

I Amazon-ordered the book and it arrived within days, so I'll want to see for myself. Whatever else, it's clearly a substantial work of scholarship, published by Cambridge University Press. See the review here: https://www.spenserreview.org/article/id/97/

The issue of Shakespeare and race is also discussed in Farah Karim-Cooper's recent (2023) "The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare while Talking about Race." Karim-Cooper discusses other plays where race would seem to be a factor, like Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest (Caliban: "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine").

[JBS]

I Amazon-ordered the book and it arrived within days, so I'll want to see for myself. Whatever else, it's clearly a substantial work of scholarship, published by Cambridge University Press. See the review here: https://www.spenserreview.org/article/id/97/

The issue of Shakespeare and race is also discussed in Farah Karim-Cooper's recent (2023) "The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare while Talking about Race." Karim-Cooper discusses other plays where race would seem to be a factor, like Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest (Caliban: "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine").

That review is a relative accurate assessment of Smith's book, although it simplifies some of his arguments (unavoidable I suppose in any review).