Shakespeare’s First Folio, The Merchant of Venice, and the Future of the Humanities
Speaker: Prof. David Scott Kastan, Yale University
Moderator: Prof. Hao Tianhu, Zhejiang University
Time: 10:00-12:00 am, Dec. 4, 2023 (Beijing time)
2023 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of what is arguably the most famous single book in English: MR. William SHAKESPEARES COMEDIES, HISTORIES, TRAGEDIES. Published seven years after Shakespeare’s death, it seems now as if this was the necessary and inevitable materialization in print of Shakespeare’s genius, although the history of the publication reveals something different than what the volume seems to promise. This is then an appropriate moment to take stock of what Shakespeare meant then, means to us now, and how Shakespeare might allow us to think about the central values of the Humanities themselves, which have never seemed more urgent.
David Scott Kastan is the George M. Bodman Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University, having previously taught at Columbia University and at Dartmouth College. He has visited universities in China, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, and Hungary, among others, and has been the chief International Consultant for the CMRS, Zhejiang University since 2016. He has authored many books, including Shakespeare after Theory, Shakespeare and the Book, and On Color, all of which are available in Chinese. Presently he is working on a book on Shakespeare and Rembrandt.
世界顶尖大学合作计划项目“我校-耶鲁中世纪与文艺复兴研究计划”资助