Emma Fredgant (Pomona 2017), Alana Friedman (Pomona 2016), and Pieter Hoekstra (Pomona 2017).
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This exhibit is the product of a no-reins liberal arts approach to research. Faced with the looming, extensive array of Shakespeare scholarship and materials in the consortium’s possession, we were tasked with creating something new. Each of us approached this project with different interests and different strategies, and our varied backgrounds gave rise to our exhibit’s theme: the variety of interpretations of Shakespeare over the last four centuries.
Rather than starting with a vision of the exhibit we wanted to craft, we sought to incorporate anything we found interesting and relevant, without worrying about sticking to a particular notion of “Shakespearean.” In choosing these materials, exploration was essential; we each spent many days exploring Special Collections before even considering what to present. As a result, we have prose, poetry, plays, operas, and religious texts in the exhibit. We have used a wide range of theoretical frameworks in constructing our cases, drawing not only from literature but from the humanities more broadly. Some cases take an historical angle, while others produce theological or philosophical approaches to the plays and materials at hand. It was intellectual exploration that determined our selection of themes and materials, rather than vice versa.
All but three of our items come from Special Collections at Honnold-Mudd and Denison libraries. Our materials range in period from the early 1600s to present day and come from England, the United States, and France. The objects you see here reflect the richness of our library’s collections, but barely scratch the surface of available works on Shakespeare and his legacy.
If there is anything we want to demonstrate through this exhibit, it is that Shakespeare is wide-reaching, Shakespeare is accessible, and Shakespeare is not set in stone. The breadth of Shakespeare inspired the inclusion of such varied materials as a King James Bible, an opera, and what is essentially Shakespeare fan-fiction in this exhibit. The elements of accessibility and play are best exemplified in our case on Hamlet, which includes paper dolls, a toy theater, and a choose-your-own-adventure book. Our Lear case is centered on Nahum Tate’s drastic rewrite of the masterpiece that dominated theaters for more than a century.
As you examine this exhibit, consider the following: How does this exhibit work with or challenge your pre-conceived notions about Shakespeare? How do your own intellectual passions shape the way you interpret his work? What does the variety of the materials on display tell us about Shakespeare’s writing? Finally, what do the various interpretations on display say about us as directors, actors, readers, and audiences?