The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1745  Friday, 2 August 2002

From:           Stephen Dobbin <
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Date:           Thursday, 1 Aug 2002 19:34:28 +0100 (BST)
Subject:        Re: EastEnders

Members of SHAKSPER know Takashi Kozuka as a rigorous and disciplined
scholar of Shakespeare biography.  Those of us who attended the "New
Directions in Biography" conference at Stratford last September know him
as a hugely impressive and efficient organiser.  But Takashi's
confession, in his latest posting, of his (presumably) unconsummated
love for Sam from EastEnders shows him in a complex new light.

Those of us accustomed to exploring the wilder shores of Shakespearean
characterisation will have immediately pounced on the androgyny of her
name. We will eagerly have followed Takashi's link to Sam's EastEnders
biography and noted the Arthur Miller/Marilyn Monroe parallels of the
Renaissance Scholar and the failed lap dancer. We wonder what tales,
Othello-like, he would use to win her love, tales of:

the NewHistorcists that each other eat,
The Deconstructionists and men whose heads
Do grow up their own arses.

Indeed, so many intriguing avenues for speculation are opened up by
Takashi