Reality Czech
Tom Stoppard Discovers Shakespeare behind the Iron Curtain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10437103 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul A Cantor (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 663-679 |
| Publication date | 2016-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670516000565 |
| OpenAlex | W2525636508 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
Tom Stoppard's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth offers fresh evidence of the universality of Shakespeare's genius. The play juxtaposes a perfunctory performance of Hamlet in an English boarding school with a courageous staging of Macbeth as a protest against Communist tyranny in 1978 Czechoslovakia. The play shows that, paradoxically, Shakespeare's plays have less of an impact in England than they do in foreign countries, where differing political circumstances, far from forming an obstacle to appreciating Shakespeare, actually bring his plays to life with a new power. By portraying the secret police interrupting the Czech Macbeth , Stoppard explores how artists can struggle against totalitarianism, and, in particular, how they can develop secret codes to express their dissidence, even under the watchful eyes of the surveillance state. Encountering Shakespeare behind the Iron Curtain, Stoppard developed a new seriousness as a playwright and a new interest in the relation of art and politics
Aesthetics · Art · Communism · Czech · Genius · HAMLET (protein complex · Literature · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Seriousness · Sociology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Law · Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |