Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines one of the more provocative twentieth-century restagings of Hamlet, Joyce's Ulysses, where Shakespeare is variously quoted, parodied, and treated with bardolatric reverence by Joyce's principal characters, Stephen and Bloom. It explores how the transposition of Shakespeare's great phrase can be an empowering gesture. The book examines the literary pastiche of Rushdie's "Yorick", whose constant intertextuality promotes a fragmented discourse that ultimately challenges the Bard's version of history. It considers how intercultural and intracultural theater in India offers such a meeting ground, a counter hegemonic site of contestation that promotes Shakespeare as a uniting figure who transcends communal and ethnic differences. The book examines how Shakespeare's texts function as legitimizing influences on an emerging national theatre in the context of Québécois drama, striving for respectability as well as potent symbols of national identity.