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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
Besides teaching Shakespeare, I also taught Douglass' narrative as part of a required course - great stuff!But if he read Hamlet, shouldn't others who aspire to be educated people do so too?
I think what irks some academics is that Shakespeare and many of the other works that have stood the test of time and become an integrate part of our literary tradition have become suspect in some circles, and seen as part of the "oppressor's" culture.
As the Douglass example shows, however, such a view couldn't be more shortsighted. Shakespeare and others have provided welcome sources of inspiration to those bent on liberation and a more inclusive cultural communion throughout our history. And by continuing to teach these texts in the right way, we can connect our students with the resources of cultural understanding and transformation that have proved critical to our advancement as a civilization.
After all, even Shakespeare has little slave narratives included in his works that have inspired many and won admiration for marginalized groups well before the 19th century - Othello's account of his slavery among the Turks, for example. Or the swineherd's tale in the Odyssey - a real eye opener for Odysseus, who promote Eumaios to one of his major honchos after regaining power on Ithaka.
Posted by Pericles on March 24, 1997 at 10:15:13
In Reply to "Slave Narratives" posted by Kimball One on March 24, 1997 at 04:56:09
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help