East Meets West: Identity and Intercultural Discourse in Chinese huaju Shakespeares
East Meets West: Identity and Intercultural Discourse in Chinese huaju Shakespeares
Author(s): Renfang TangSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: huaju; Chinese Shakespeare adaptations; Coriolanus; King Lear; intercultural performance; identity; politics
Summary/Abstract: This article examines two huaju performances of Shakespeare—The Tragedy of Coriolanus (2007) and King Lear (2006), which are good examples of cultural exchanges between East and West, integrating Shakespeare into contemporary Chinese culture and politics. The two works provide distinctive approaches to the issues of identity in intercultural discourse. At the core of both productions lies the fundamental question: “Who am I?” At stake are the artists’ personal and cultural identities as processes of globalisation intensify. These performances not only exemplify the intercultural productivity of Shakespearean texts, but more critically, illustrate how Shakespeare and intercultural discourses are internalized and reconfigured by the nation and culture that consume and re-produce them. Chinese adaptations of Coriolanus and King Lear demonstrate how (intercultural) identity is constructed through the subjectivity and iconicity of Shakespeare’s characters and the performativity of Shakespeare’s texts.
Journal: Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance
- Issue Year: 20/2019
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 61-81
- Page Count: 21
- Language: English