Course for international guest/part time students
- Faculty
- Faculty of Humanities
- Organization
- BTK Department of English Studies
- Code
- BBI-ANG17-219E.07
- Title
- Reading Literary Texts 2.: Shakespeare, History and the Art of Manipulation: Richard III
- Usual semester
- Autumn
- ECTS
- 3
- Language
- Learning outcomes
- This seminar course is a text-reading seminar, that of Shakespeare’s Richard III, and it will not only provide a thorough reading and interpretation(s) of the text, but also invite students to think over the sometimes playful, sometimes ambivalent and controversial relationship between history and literature, with a particular focus on the mechanisms and tropes of propaganda and manipulation. In addition, we aim to examine and explore some of the adaptations of the text (films and performances, as well as works of visual art related to Richard III).
- Course content
- Since the beginning of the 2010s there have been some major historical and archaeological researches carried out regarding the figure of Richard III (both the physical body and the personality of the monarch), resulting in his ongoing historical reinterpretation on the one hand, and his ceremonial reburial on the other in 2015. Inevitably, this has put Shakespeare’s play into a new focus, mainly because most historians agree that his drama has had an immense impact on how Richard’s figure is interpreted today. These years we are to witness how the reforming of historical events can actually change the readings of the play. The deformed king of Shakespeare is seen in a new light, and the text proves to be capable of providing not only the negative, “malignant” connotations to Richard, but also a more positive, sensitive and complex reading of his figure.
- Assessment method
- active in-class participation; Canvas tasks, presentation (optional) and in class tests and mini essays;
- Bibliography
- Shakespeare: Richard III. bármely jegyzetelt, szerkesztett, minőségi kiadás; any annotated, quality edition; Arden, Oxford preferable; egész félévre szükséges; needed for the whole semester; D. R. Woolf: “Reading History” in David Scott Kastan (ed.) A Companion to Shakespeare, Oxford and Malden: Blackwell, 2000. Richard Dutton, Jean E. Howard (Eds.): A Companion to Shakespeare's Works: The Histories. Malden, Oxford, Carlton: Blackwell, 2003. Russ MacDonald: “III. Richárd és az árulás trópusai.” in: Gárdos B., Kállay G., Vince M. (eds.): Shakespeare-olvasatok a strukturalizmus után. Bp., Elte Eötvös Kiadó, 2013. http://www.eltereader.hu/media/2014/04/Shakespeare_2_READER.pdf The history of the archeological research: https://le.ac.uk/richard-iii Kállay, Géza: Itt nincsen más, én és én. in: Liget, 2015. https://ligetmuhely.com/liget/kallay-geza-itt-nincsen-mas-en-es-en/