Invited by the Zhejiang University Education Foundation USA, the International Relations, Zhejiang University and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies of School (CMRS) of School of International Studies, Zhejiang University, Prof. Mr. David Scott Kastan from Yale University, a world-renowned scholar on Shakespeare visited China for the first time and held a series of academic activities during his visit to Zhejiang University from October 10th to October 16th, 2018. He gave a lecture on Shakespeare entitled “Who’s Shakespeare? Whose Shakespeare” and also attended the “International Symposium on Studies of Medieval and Renaissance European Literature of Young Scholars” as a keynote speaker. This visit is of great impetus to foreign language, literature and international exchanges of ZJU.
Currently an English chair professor of Yale University, David Scott Kastan used to teach at Dartmouth College and Columbia University for many years and was a distinguished visiting professor to University of Copenhagen in Denmark, the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and American University in Cairo. As a renowned scholar on Shakespearean studies and bibliographer as well as one of the most widely read scholars of literature and culture in the world, he has published a lot of works which were translated into the languages of Chinese, Russian, Danish and Hungarian, exerting a great influence around the world and gaining a number of academic honors. Prof. Kastan is currently an international consultant for the CMRS of School of International Studies. He is also the first American co-editor of the prestigious magazine of Arden Shakespeare series in its history. Apart from the works such as Shakespeare and the Form of Time, Shakespeare after Theory, Shakespeare and the Book, Shakespeare and Religion, he has also edited five volumes of Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature and many works, all of which have enjoyed a high reputation worldwide. His latest book On Color was published by Yale University Press in May this year and another book on history of books will be published by Princeton University Press soon.
On the afternoon of October 12, 2018, Prof. Kastan gave a lecture entitled “Who’s Shakespeare? Whose Shakespeare?” to the students and teachers at Room 102, East Building 2 on Zijingang Campus. The lecture, hosted by Prof. Hao Tianhu, a student of Prof. Kastan at Columbia University, attracted more than 200 students and teachers with great enthusiasm. Several guests, including Xu Ying, Deputy Director of the International Relations of ZJU, Prof. Fang Fan, Vice Dean of the School of International Studies, Prof. William Baker from the University of Northern Illinois and Prof. Wang Mingyue from Taiwan also attended the lecture.
First of all, Prof. Kastan cited the comment on Shakespeare by Ben Jonson, a British Renaissance poet, “He was not of an age but for all time” and then raised the first question “Who is Shakespeare?” To answer this question, he introduced the background of Shakespearean times and pointed out that dramas in the Elizabethan era were similar to films in entertainment industry today. The written record of Shakespeare’s baptism in 1564 and his passing away in 1616 as well as his signatures were shown. Prof. Kastan concluded that history limitation was inevitable while studying Shakespeare because we could only infer what had contributed to his success by tracing back to the history based on his achievements we’ve already learned.
Then, as for the second question “Whose Shakespeare?”, Prof. Kastan said that later generations had different attitudes towards Shakespeare’s works. People in the 17th century criticized Shakespeare’s plays to be outdated, so they even forsaken Shakespeare or rewrote Shakespeare’s play. The British-French war in the 18th century was more than a war for colony, but a fierce battle in the cultural field. Shakespeare, regarded as a national poet representing British culture then, enjoyed a high status. In the present era, Shakespeare’s plays have been translated into more than 100 languages and performed in more than 140 countries. In modern China, Shakespeare’s works were translated into Chinese by many translators represented by Lin Shu and Zhu Shenghao, all of whom have contributed to the publicity of Shakespeare’s works. While Shakespeare passed away, his works are eternal. Beyond ages and countries, Shakespeare belongs to all mankind.
“Shakespeare’s coming home!” Prof. Kastan narrowed down the gap between the audience and Shakespeare with extensive literature, vivid images and brilliant words. The lively interaction between Prof. Kastan and the audience leads to the climax of the lecture. At last, Prof. Hao Tianhu expressed his sincere gratitude to Prof. Kastan and spoke highly of him by quoting the British Medieval poet Hoccleve, “My maistir Kastan, flower of eloquence”, which had been used to commend Chaucer, father of English poetry.
As a world-renowned scholar on humanities and Shakespearean studies, Prof. Kastan’s visit boosted the humanistic spirit of ZJU, the literary accomplishment of students and teachers, as well as the foreign language and literature disciplines of School of International Studies.
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies of School (CMRS) of School of International Studies, Zhejiang University
October 17, 2018
Written by Meng Shiying
Photoed by Lin Tianying
Translated by Li Qian
Edited by Xu Xueying
