Shakespeariana and Shakespeare Societies in North America, 1883-1893

Authors

  • Christy Desmet University of Georgia

Abstract

Cluster: “Shakespeare Readings, Societies, and Forums.” Edited by Matt Kozusko, Christy Desmet, and Robert Sawyer. 

This essay offers a brief ethnography of North American Shakespeare Societies through the most prominent clearing house for information about such societies in the latter half of the nineteenth century: the journal Shakespeariana. Not surprisingly, Shakespeare societies almost always involved a certain degree of ritual and structure. Most of the groups listed in the journal's "Shaksperian Societies" column, like the Philadelphia Shakspere Society, seem to feature predominantly male speakers and participants, although Shakespeariana does provide information about women's Shakespeare societies. In terms of their goals, the societies differ according to size and geographical location. The New York Shakespeare Society, the sponsoring organization for Shakespeariana, was large and had scholarly ambitions. By contrast, many societies were content to read Shakespeare's plays aloud, often in rotation. One general pattern was to read the play at one meeting, then to address criticism of that play at the next meeting. Some groups read criticism by published critics; some presented papers by the members themselves. Only a few clubs admitted to being purely "social." Through its essays, Shakespeariana develops its own literary ideology, recommending Shakespearean study for its power to convey the beauty of the English language and its ability to introduce readers young and old to important moral issues. Educating the masses is part of Shakespeariana's democratic bent, while the assertion that Americans enjoy a particular affinity with Shakespearean drama gives the journal a nationalist orientation. At the same time, however, Shakespeariana very clearly sees American Shakespeare societies as enjoying a transatlantic kinship with their British (or perhaps just English) counterparts.

Author Biography

Christy Desmet, University of Georgia

Christy Desmet is co-editor of Shakespeare and Appropriation (1999) and Harold Bloom's Shakespeare (2001). With Sujata Iyengar, she also edits Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation.

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Published

2006-09-01