Shakespeare in Canada is the result of a collective desire to explore
the role that Shakespeare has played in Canada over the past two hundred
years, but also to comprehend the way our country's culture has
influenced our interpretation of his literary career and heritage. What
function does Shakespeare serve in Canada today? How has he been
reconfigured in different ways for particular Canadian contexts?
The authors of this book attempt to answer these questions while
imagining what the future might hold for William Shakespeare in Canada.
Covering the Stratford Festival, the cult CBC television program Slings
and Arrows, major Canadian critics such as Northrop Frye and Marshall
McLuhan, the influential acting teacher Neil Freiman, the rise of
Québécois and First Nation approaches to Shakespeare, and Shakespeare's
place in secondary schools today, this collection reflects the diversity
and energy of Shakespeare's afterlife in Canada.
Collectively, the authors suggest that Shakespeare continues to offer
Canadians "remembrance of ourselves." This is a refreshingly original
and impressive contribution to Shakespeare studies--a considerable
achievement in any work on the history of one of the central figures in
the western literary canon.