Shakespeare's Legacy in YA Literature II

Hey, so I did some scholarly research again. That was unexpected. This time I looked at a few of the articles in the book Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults, mentioned in this post. You can take a look at the first Shakespeare's Legacy post here.

The last article I looked at discussed how Shakespearean themes manifest in modern YA lit, looking particularly at Bridge to Terabithia. Two of the articles that I read continued that train of thought. (I read some other articles from this book, and they are interesting but don't pertain to my subject.)

The first article is "Harry Potter and the Shakespearean Allusion" by Miranda Johnson-Haddad. Woo-hoo, Harry Potter! Everything is better with Harry Potter. Even the Doctor thinks that Shakespeare needs some good ol' J. K. Anyway, the article is about moments in the HP books that parallel moments in Richard III and Titus Andronicus. Unfortunately, the article was written when only four books were out, so some of the speculation is outdated and the examples could be better. However, the main point of the article is still relevant: Harry Potter, like Shakespeare, is concerned with "the relationship--the affinity, even--between good and evil" (168). Modern YA lit builds on themes that are explored dynamically in Shakespeare.

Shakespeare's Legacy in YA Literature

In my ongoing project about how Shakespeare has affected YA literature, I've spent a lot of time looking at direct adaptations and spinoffs in YA novels. As such, I've been using primary texts far more than scholarly materials. To rectify this inadequacy, I read through one of the chapters in Heirs to Shakespeare that I mentioned in this post.

The chapter I read is titled "Hamlet: Prince of the Schoolyard" and it discusses how Hamlet shows up in modern YA lit beyond direct adaptations. The chapter discusses several novels that use Shakespearean themes and character types, but what I found most interesting was the comparison between Hamlet and Bridge to Terabithia. You may be thinking, what in the world does that novel have to do with Hamlet?? Okay, that's what I thought when I started reading. But Megan Lynn Isaac actually points out some surprising parallels.

Teen Themes: Female Friendship

This post is the second of two posts on themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers, part of my ongoing project about YA lit adaptations of Shakespeare. You can see the first post here.

The second theme that I found in A Midsummer Night's Dream that I thought a YA author could take advantage of is the friendship between Hermia and Helena. Most YA lit readers are female (male teenagers read less in general, and those who do read gravitate towards non-fiction) and friendship is hugely important to teenage girls.

Teen Themes: Frustrated Love

This post is the first of two about themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream that appeal to teenagers.

When adapting Shakespeare, it's important to consider what themes the target audience will appreciate. This means that authors who adapt Shakespeare for a teen audience need to find themes in the original texts that apply to teen experience. The themes that the authors of YA Shakespeare spinoffs choose to explore may or may not be the main themes of the original plays. For example, Ariel by Grace Tiffany (see my book review) explores the ideas that imagination is powerful, that the search for power can ruin people's lives, and that friendly love trumps spontaneous romance. Some of these themes align with The Tempest but others do not.

As I read A Midsummer Night's Dream, I looked for themes that would appeal to teen readers, especially themes that I would capitalize on if I were writing a YA adaptation. One theme I thought would translate well is frustrated love.

Scholarly Resources

In my search to understand how Shakespeare is adapted for young adults, I need to focus more on the scholarly side of things, so I went to the library and checked out a couple cool books that I plan to peruse.

The first book analyzes how Shakespeare appears in young adult literature today, giving lists of books that have Shakespearean themes as well as making direct comparisons of YA texts to the original plays.

Isaac, Megan Lynn. Heirs to Shakespeare: Reinventing the Bard in Young Adult Literature. Portsmouth: Boynton, 2000. 

The second book discusses children and young adults as a new audience for Shakespeare and how Shakespeare has been modified to help children understand and appreciate the Bard. I'm especially excited for the chapters "Playing with Shakespeare: Making Worlds from Words" and "Harry Potter and the Shakespearean Allusion."

Miller, Naomi J. Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults. New York: Routledge, 2003. 

Also, I didn't check this book out, but it looked like it might be useful to Claire. It has multiple articles about different aspects of teaching Shakespeare; the article that caught my eye was about using Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War to ease teenagers into a critical approach of Macbeth.

Davis, James E. Teaching Shakespeare Today: Practical Approaches and Productive Strategies. 1993. Library Catalog: PR 2987 .T37

The Tempest: Shakespeare and YA Literature

Because this is the last week of assigned genre reading, I'm going to take a bit longer for The Tempest. (Also, I have all my midterms this week. Whee!) I've decided that for this play I'm going to focus on how Shakespeare has been adapted for children and young adults. This week, I'll read the original play, and then next week I'll read adaptations and do reviews about each book's effectiveness and appeal.

Here's what I'm planning to read:

Ariel by Grace Tiffany. A novel about Ariel's side of the story.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. An eighth-grade boy is forced to study Shakespeare with a teacher he hates but learns to appreciate the Bard in the context of his tumultuous friendships, his uneasy family life, and the Vietnam War. I read this book last semester, so I'll review just the parts about The Tempest.

Lizard by Dennis Covington. A young boy runs away from an institution for mentally handicapped boys and at some point is part of a production of The Tempest.









The Tempest (Graphic Shakespeare) by Daniel Connor and Cynthia Martin. A comic-book style version of The Tempest that uses the original words of the play.

I'll also read several picture books that the library has. Since I've been in several classes for children's and adolescent literature, I'm going to enjoy seeing how authors adapt the Bard's work to appeal to a younger audience and make them want to tackle the real deal.

Tropes

I could spend (and have spent) hours and hours on TV Tropes reading about all the different plot and character devices that my favorite television shows use. So I thought, Why not Shakespeare? I looked around, and there are several pages about Shakespeare that are worth looking at. Each play has its own tropes page, and several adaptations do as well. Old Shakey has his own place of honor in trope history: The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples. If you follow through to different trope links, you can find other works that use the same devices as Shakespeare, which would be a good way to start a critical comparison.

Taming of the Shrew

Just a quick post: I haven't started reading the play yet, but I did check out the Wikipedia page and look at the critical history. I'm worried about the misogyny in the play, because nothing cheeses me off like chauvinists, but I know that my roommate who loves the play (hi, Sarah!) wrote an essay last semester about how the play is actually not misogynistic at all, so I'll bug her until she lets me read it.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what I want to do with the play. I'll probably do more Thought posts because making lists of comments as I read is a good way to come up with questions and avoid dozing off. I may compare the play to 10 Things I Hate About You, because I've seen that movie several times and wouldn't mind seeing it again. I doubt I'll watch a more faithful adaptation unless someone else in the class really likes one.

I should also begin looking into academic criticism, because despite my disdain for academic conventions, there's a wealth of information to be found there. Perhaps I'll spend some time perusing the Shakespeare subject guide on the library website. I also need to look through my class notes again and see what suggestions of Dr. Burton's that I haven't looked into yet.

So much time and so little to blog! Wait, strike that, reverse it.

Calling All Whovians

David Tennant has played both Hamlet and the Tenth Doctor, and this video combines the two to flesh out the Doctor's tragedy with Shakespeare's words. It couldn't be more appropriate in describing the struggles of Tennant's Doctor, who both fights to preserve himself in his current incarnation and yet also puts his life at risk on purpose many times because he keeps losing everything. 

 

I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired; tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything you love turn to dust. If you live long enough, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone.