ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the French-flavoured origins of William Shakespeare in the nineteenth-century Islamicate world, such as, late Ottoman Anatolia and Arab lands, Qajar Iran before turning to mid-twentieth-century nationalist theatre and translation movements. The history of Middle Eastern Shakespeares offers a vivid set of case-studies of the ways Shakespeare reception and appropriation take place everywhere in the world, including, the Anglophone world. In Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian (Farsi)-speaking contexts, Shakespeare appropriation followed a basic pattern. Shakespeare entered the Turkish language during a translation push fostered by the Tanzimat modernizing reform movement. In the post-World War II period, Shakespeare served nationalist and post-colonial aspirations throughout the region. In Syria, Shakespeare was a drama-school and state-theatre staple through the 1960s, and became a vehicle for political allegory in the 1970s. The most popular, most often performed Shakespeare play in Turkey is Othello, prized for topical themes including otherness, betrayal, soldierly life, the problem of Cyprus, and the betrayal of fathers.
