The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race by Farah Karim-Cooper
Professor Farah Karim-Cooper grew up loving the Bard, perhaps because Romeo and Juliet felt Pakistani to her. But why was being white as a ‘snowy dove’ essential to Juliet’s beauty?
Combining piercing analysis of race, gender and otherness in beloved plays from Othello to The Tempest with a radical reappraisal of Elizabethan London, The Great White Bard entreats us neither to idealise nor to fossilise Shakespeare but instead to look him in the eye and reckon with the discomforts of his plays, playhouses and society.
If we persist in reading Shakespeare as representative of only one group, as the very pinnacle of the white Western canon, then he will truly be in peril. But if we dare to bring Shakespeare down from his plinth, we might unveil a playwright for the twenty-first century. We might expand and enrich his extraordinary legacy. We might even fall in love with him all over again.
Every purchase you make supports the work of Shakespeare's Globe. Thank you!
Detail
Author: Farah Karim-Cooper
Format: Paperback
Size: 130mm x 200mm
Pages: 328
We offer free UK delivery on orders over £30.
- Royal Mail – untracked
- DHL Next Day Delivery at checkout
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- Global Mail - Tracked standard service
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Please note: Global Mail shipping is currently unavailable for US orders due to new US tariff regulations.
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Professor Farah Karim-Cooper grew up loving the Bard, perhaps because Romeo and Juliet felt Pakistani to her. But why was being white as a ‘snowy dove’ essential to Juliet’s beauty?
Combining piercing analysis of race, gender and otherness in beloved plays from Othello to The Tempest with a radical reappraisal of Elizabethan London, The Great White Bard entreats us neither to idealise nor to fossilise Shakespeare but instead to look him in the eye and reckon with the discomforts of his plays, playhouses and society.
If we persist in reading Shakespeare as representative of only one group, as the very pinnacle of the white Western canon, then he will truly be in peril. But if we dare to bring Shakespeare down from his plinth, we might unveil a playwright for the twenty-first century. We might expand and enrich his extraordinary legacy. We might even fall in love with him all over again.
Every purchase you make supports the work of Shakespeare's Globe. Thank you!
Detail
Author: Farah Karim-Cooper
Format: Paperback
Size: 130mm x 200mm
Pages: 328
We offer free UK delivery on orders over £30.
- Royal Mail – untracked
- DHL Next Day Delivery at checkout
International shipping options:
- Global Mail - Tracked standard service
- Express Worldwide – faster delivery with tracking
Please note: Global Mail shipping is currently unavailable for US orders due to new US tariff regulations.
Made-to-order items
Some products are shipped directly from our suppliers. If your order includes both made-to-order and stocked items, they may arrive in separate parcels. For more details, visit our Delivery & Returns page.