TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of Illustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Note on Transliteration and Translation xvii
Introduction 1
"When Shakespeare Travels Abroad" 3
The Global Kaleidoscope 6
Hamlet and Political Agency 8
Chapter 1: Hamlet in the Daily Discourse of Arab Identity 13
"Time Out of Joint": Coming to Terms with History 16
"Shall We Be or Not Be?": Personifying the Group 23
"Words, Words, Words": Forging an Identity 29
"The Play's the Thing" 33
Chapter 2: Nasser's Dramatic Imagination, 1952-64 35
Revolutionary Drama 37
Theatre Joins the Battle 44
Shakespeare on the Sidelines 50
Chapter 3: The Global Kaleidoscope: How Egyptians Got Their Hamlet, 1901-64 53
Beyond Caliban 54
"Bend Again toward France" 59
"Do It, England!" 70
Independence and Soviet Shakespeare 75
Bidayr's "Cruel Text" 85
Chapter 4: Hamletizing the Arab Muslim Hero, 1964-67 91 In Search of Social Justice 93
Psychological Interiority as a Ground for Political Agency 95
Sulayman: "Justice or Oppression? That Is the Puzzle" 95
Al-Hallaj: "Who Will Give Me a Seeing Sword?" 103
De-Hamletized Revivals 111
Chapter 5: Time Out of Joint, 1967-76 114
"Something Is Rotten": Theatre and the 1967 Defeat 116
M artyrs for Justice: "Abstract and Brief Chronicles" of the 1970s 124
Sadat's Open Door: "To Cook or Not to Cook?" 134
A Dilemma 140
Chapter 6: Six Plays in Search of a Protagonist, 1976-2002 142
Silencing Hamlet 144
"A Play Can't Stab" 147
"His Sword Kept Sticking Up" 163
A Prodigal Cousin 173
Post-Political Laughs 179
Epilogue: Hamlets without Hamlet 183
Notes 189
Bibliography 237
Index 257
Return to Book Description File created: 4/25/2013 | 
