The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.0949  Thursday, 26 April 2001

From:           Karen Peterson-Kranz <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 25 Apr 2001 08:51:11 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 12.0933 Re: Black Rosalind
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.0933 Re: Black Rosalind

>Are we examining our own prejudices in this forum or
>are we attempting
>to discover the author's purposes?

These are most certainly NOT mutually exclusive objectives.

Further, I think a number of us place "discovering the author's
purposes" rather low on the list.  First, because differences in time
and space make any conclusive "discovery" (in the literal sense of
"un-covering" something empirically verifiable) unlikely, if not
impossible.  Second, because there is certainly more to the study of
"Shakespeare" than those (unrecoverable?) authorial purposes.  The focus
of this thread -- the possibility that the LLL Rosalind may have been
imagined, not only by the author, but by audiences, as a woman of color
-- has expanded to include a discussion of contemporary casting
practices.  This seems eminently appropriate to the multifarious
interests of this list, but relates not at all to "discovering the
author's purposes."  And if such issues force certain list members to
examine their own prejudices, then so much the better.

Cheers,
Karen Peterson

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