SCT #34: Shakespeare and Trump with Jeffrey R. Wilson

Shakespeare and Contemporary Theory with Neema Parvini

Neema welcomes Jeffrey R. Wilson (Harvard) to discuss the election of Donald Trump, its impact on the intellectual climate, and some of the ways in which Shakespeare was used in the coverage of the US election. Wilson’s essay, “Public Shakespeareanism: The Bard in the 2016 American Presidential Election,” is available upon request from the author; email [e-mail]. The instances of “public Shakespeareanism” discussed in the essay and the podcast include: Andrew Cutrofello, “Shakespeare and Trump: What’s in a Name?” PublicSeminar.com (December 15, 2015), http://www.publicseminar.org/2015/12/shakespeare-and-trump-whats-in-a-name. Brian Leiter, “Shakespeare on Trump: Money Made the Man,” The Huffington Post (Feb 29, 2016), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-leiter/shakespeare-on-trump-money-made-the-man_b_9344370.html. Charles McNulty, “The Theater of Trump: What Shakespeare can teach us about the Donald,” Los Angeles Times (May 26, 2016), http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-0529-shakespeare-trump-20160518-snap-htmlstory.html. Paul Hamilton, “Trumping Shakespeare: Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and the Rise of the Clown Politician,” Kingston Shakespeare Seminar (July 11, 2016), https://kingstonshakespeareseminar.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/trumping-shakespeare-donald-trump-boris-johnson-and-the-rise-of-the-clown-politician/. Peter C. Herman, “Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ Donald Trump, and the Republican Party,” Times of San Diego (Aug. 7, 2016), https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2016/08/07/shakespeares-macbeth-donald-trump-and-the-republican-party/. Stephen Greenblatt, “Shakespeare Explains the 2016 Election,” New York Times Sunday Review (Oct. 8, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/sunday/shakespeare-explains-the-2016-election.html.