Remaking Shakespeare in Dutch

This talk examines some of the many ways in which the work of Shakespeare has been re-imagined in Dutch, starting with The Mad Wedding – Abraham Sybant’s 1654 translation of The Taming of the Shrew – and ending with Tom Lanoye’s Queen Lear (2015). Dr Dijkhuizen is interested especially in how Dutch translators and adaptors have responded to the political issues addressed in Shakespeare’s plays, such as gender, race relations and social hierarchies. His aim is not in the first instance to provide an historical overview, but rather to single out a number of particularly fascinating case studies.

Dr Jan Frans van Dijkhuizen teaches English Literature at the University of Leiden. He has published work on early modern England, most notably Devil Theatre: Demonic Possession and Exorcism in English Renaissance Drama, 1558– 1642 (2007) and Pain and Compassion in Early Modern English Literature and Culture (2012).He has also published a number of articles on Dutch translations and adaptions of John Milton and William Shakespeare. and co-edits on this topic.