CITING SHAKESPEARE The Reinterpretation of Race in Contemporary Literature and Art Peter Erickson
Interview material and excerpts from Rita Dove s poems reprinted by permission of Rita Dove. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC: Excerpts from COLLECTED POEMS 1948 1984 by Derek Walcott. 1986 by Derek Walcott. Excerpts from MIDSUMMER by Derek Walcott. 1984 by Derek Walcott. Excerpts from OMEROS by Derek Walcott. 1990 by Derek Walcott. Excerpts from TIEPOLO S HOUND by Derek Walcott. 2000 by Derek Walcott. Excerpts from Derek Walcott s Collected Poems, Midsummer, and Omeros also reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber, Ltd. CITING SHAKESPEARE: THE REINTERPRETATION OF RACE IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE AND ART Peter Erickson, 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-1-4039-7054-1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-4039-7055-8 ISBN 978-1-137-06009-9 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-06009-9 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Macmillan India Ltd. First edition: March 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2008
CONTENTS List of Illustrations Preface v vii Introduction: Allusion as Revision 1 1 Not Shakespeare : Acts of Quotation in Nadine Gordimer s My Son s Story 11 2 Rita Dove s Shakespeares 21 3 Neither Prospero nor Caliban: Derek Walcott s Revaluations of Shakespearean Fluency 41 4 Yet you can quote Shakespeare, at the drop of a pin : Shakespearean Riffs in Leon Forrest s Divine Days 61 5 Paul Robeson s Othello and the Question of Multicultural Shakespeare 77 6 Contextualizing Othello: Ishmael Reed, Caryl Phillips, and Djanet Sears 103
iv Contents 7 Respeaking Othello in Fred Wilson s Speak of Me as I Am 119 8 It sounds like a quotation : J. M. Coetzee and the Power of Shakespearean Allusion 151 Epilogue: Making Changes 167 Acknowledgments 171 Notes 175 Index 209
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2 Figure 7.3 Fred Wilson, Banners of Melchior Barthel figures (photographs on scrim), 2003. 122 Baldassare Longhena, Tomb for Doge Giovanni Pesaro, S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice, 1669. Detail of base of monument, showing four sculptures by Melchior Barthel. 123 Fred Wilson, For Pawns in a Larger Game, 2003. 125 Figure 7.4 Fred Wilson, Chandelier Mori, 2003, with view of Drip, Drop, Plop in next room. 126 Figure 7.5 Fred Wilson, The Wanderer, 2003. 127 Figure 7.6 Fred Wilson, Drip, Drop, Plop, 2001, on left; Untitled (four photographs), 2003, on right. 129 Figure 7.7 Fred Wilson, Turbulence II, 2003. 135 Figure 7.8 Fred Wilson, Faith s Fate, 2003. 137
Preface This book challenges and expands our conception of Shakespeare by asking: How does the meaning of Shakespeare change when quoted in the context of contemporary literature and art? Shakespeare is our most quotable author, and everyone knows how to dredge up at least some bits of Shakespeare, whether with pride, jocularity, or nervous apology. From the standpoint of an African American listener trying to identify a quotation, the rule of thumb in Zadie Smith s On Beauty (2005) is: When in doubt, say Shakespeare. Quoting Shakespeare is a cultural reflex as irresistible, and as American, as apple pie. What happens when we quote Shakespeare? What does Shakespeare say for us? Which version of America does Shakespearean quotation express? Marilynne Robinson s Gilead (2004) gives Shakespeare the last word by channeling him. Her novel s final line recites King Lear s I ll pray, and then I ll sleep. The effect is to elevate Shakespeare to the level of the Bible, the main character s explicit resource, and thus to link Shakespeare and the Bible as the two great books that form the foundation of American culture. Against this celebratory reaffirmation, I suggest that writers quote Shakespeare for many different reasons and that a comprehensive survey reveals a much more variegated, complicated view of Shakespeare.
viii Preface Citing Shakespeare is double-edged. It means to invoke Shakespeare s quotability as an all-purpose authoritative source. But it can also mean to summon with a view to rendering judgment by engaging in critical evaluation. This second meaning prevents simple homage, and hence knocks off its tracks the idea of an imagined community whose symbolic belonging is based on feel-good common access to a Shakespeare who has said it all in the form of permanent, timeless, and universal insights. My argument is that in the hands of contemporary writers and visual artists, Shakespearean allusion relocates Shakespeare in a new environment that shifts, twists, torques, wrenches, and alters the meaning of his words. We need to learn to register and to relish these swerves. When this change is actively pursued as an artistic strategy, the result is a revisionary rewriting that places Shakespearean language in critical perspective. The interest becomes seeing, in high-resolution and zoom-in detail, the various ways individual artists carry out this process of revision. The ultimate suspense in specific cases is: Where does this revision lead? What is the outcome, and what are the consequences? For my project, the consequences concern race. The goal is to show how the conjunction of Shakespeare and race in the context of contemporary culture shakes up the relationship between these two terms and thereby performs a salient act of reinterpretation. The sheer number of writers engaged in revision is impressive. To convey the range of approaches to the shared focus on Shakespeare and race, this book emphasizes boundary crossing. It crosses historical periods by focusing on juxtapositions and tensions between Shakespeare s Renaissance
Preface ix and our own contemporary moment. It crosses geographical lines and racial categories by bringing together black authors from different locations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and England (considered as Caryl Phillips s primary residence), as well as by including a cross-racial mix through two white South African authors and myself as a white American critic. It crosses generic and disciplinary categories by encompassing the full literary range of poetry, fiction, and drama, and also by combining literature and visual art. In connecting the key themes of quotation and race, this book proposes a methodological crossing that combines the traditional literary critical topic of allusion with the vexed political issue of race. Full understanding of the interaction between these two themes requires an investigation of the mechanics of allusion that is just as sophisticated as our analysis of the concept of race. Finally, the overall reassessment tests the value of critical multiculturalism: Can the revisionary activity described here make a political contribution to our wider vision of America? This is the ultimate boundary crossing: to show that the reach of literature and art is not limited to an isolated cultural sphere but extends into the realm of our political life. When you enter the atrium of Fred Wilson s exhibition Speak of Me as I Am at the 2003 Venice Biennale, you see, tucked in the niche directly ahead, a black servant named The Wanderer. The servant holds out an empty tray. The real offering is the top-heavy globe head held up, Atlaslike, by his small body. The globe, which has replaced his human face, is turned so that Africa faces outward for our viewing. This face of Africa is not unlike the colonialist s dream anticipated in the Africa-focused globes in Holbein s
x Preface painting The Ambassadors of 1533 and Van Dyck s Madagascar portrait of 1639. Wilson s servant-wanderer has an affinity with Shakespeare s state servant Othello, whose wide-ranging traveller s history seems to promise convenient worldwide access. By contrast, Paul Robeson s career suggests a different international prospect: Robeson attempts to use his role as Othello as the springboard for an active political struggle to redefine the United States s role as a world power after World War II. Although Wilson s work is not discussed in its exhibition context until chapter 7, the image of The Wanderer can serve as a gateway to the book as a whole. In particular, the Wanderer Othello connection indicates that visual works are capable of textual allusion.