Shakespeare in Swahililand: In Search of a Global Poet - Brossura

Wilson-Lee, Edward

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0374537267 ISBN 13: 9780374537265

Casa editrice: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2017

Riassunto

An exploration of Shakespeare as a global poet

Shakespeare in Swahililand tells the unexpected literary history of Shakespeare’s influence in East Africa. Beginning with Victorian-era expeditions in which Shakespeare’s works were the sole reading material carried into the interior, the Bard has been a vital touchstone throughout the region. His plays were printed by liberated slaves as one of the first texts in Swahili, performed by Indian laborers while they built the Uganda railroad, used to argue for native rights, and translated by intellectuals, revolutionaries, and independence leaders.

Weaving together stories of explorers staggering through Africa’s interior, eccentrics living out their dreams on the savanna, decadent émigrés, Cold War intrigues, and even Che Guevara, Edward Wilson-Lee—a Cambridge lecturer raised in Kenya—tallies Shakespeare’s influence in Zanzibar, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Traveling through these countries, he speaks with everyone from theater directors and academics to soldiers and aid workers, discovering not only cultural dimensions traceable to Shakespeare's plays but also an overwhelming insistence that these works provide a key insight into the region.

An astonishing work of empathy and historical vision, Shakespeare in Swahililand gets at the heart of what makes Shakespeare so universal and the role that his writings have played in thinking about what it means to be human.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Edward Wilson-Lee was raised in Kenya by conservationist parents, studied English at University College London, and completed a doctorate at Oxford and Cambridge. Over the past few years he has spent extended periods in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. He now lives in Cambridge with his wife and son, and teaches Shakespeare at Sidney Sussex College.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Data di pubblicazione: 2017
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0374537267
• ISBN 13: 9780374537265
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 288
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile