David's Wonderfully Captivating Illustrated Annotated Bibliography

Working Thesis:

"Examining how Shylock has been adapted and appropriated by various cultures provides vital insights into the cultures themselves."

Social Graph

Shylock, the (not) Jew,
from the online video game Maobingi.
Source.

• Jonelle: my stepmom. She was an English major in college, and loves to hear me talk about my occasionally out-there ideas. She will be a good person to bounce my paper off of.

• Stephanie: an online friend of mine. She was the one that suggested I take a look at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of Merchant of Venice, and mentioned some specific production choices. Given her interest in the topic, I think she could be an excellent resource.

• Nyssa: from class. Nyssa and I have been interested in each other's projects almost since the beginning. Since we're classmates, I can get feedback about how well I'm fulfilling the requirements for the project.

New Media

• Anthony Heald Interviews: Anthony Heald portrayed  Shylock in a 2010 production, and offered a different way to interpret the character. He gave a series of interviews on the subject, found on YouTube (the first of which is linked to in the title). I don't know if it will work super well with my topic (which has shifted since I found these videos) but they're worth a look.

• Maobingi: while doing some random searches on the internet, I found that a Korean video game called Maobingi had incorporated the Merchant of Venice into one of its main storylines. Interestingly, Shylock's identity as a Jew is not mentioned in the game; this is likely because a) this aspect of his culture might not resonate with Koreans as much as it would with British or Americans, or b) Maobingi's probably-less-sophisticated audience would probably take it the wrong way. It's possible that reaching/performing these quests might be a little too big of a time commitment for me, so I'm going to see if I can access this content in another way: interviews or youtube videos, for example. I'm hoping I can use this as an example of an adaptation, and talk about how they portray Shylock.

• Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project: Another potential resource for productions I can use is the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project website. They have several adaptations of Merchant of Venice listed, most notably "The Merchant ofVenice in Auschwitz." There didn't appear to be a whole lot of information on this particular production, but, if nothing else, I can look for more information elsewhere.

Social Networks

• Good Reads: when doing research, I found casual mentions of unusual productions to be very helpful. I spent some time looking for forums where people were discussing The Merchant of Venice so I could ask what people had seen, and the best site I was able to find was Good Reads. Within the next few days, I plan on posting on a couple listings of Merchant, asking people which plays they've seen.

• Dramaturg's Network: I found a discussion board called Dramaturg's Network, a forum designed specifically for dramaturgs (i.e. those that make decisions about how to adapt a play). I hope to be able to talk to them about the kinds of decisions they make, why they make them, and what effect they have; unfortunately, the only post I, as a non-member, could see was dated from 2011. I'm hoping there will be more recent posts available after they let me in.

• Production Directors: this might not count as a "network," but will definitely fall under the "Expert" category. I plan on emailing the directors of different productions (including BYU's  children's production from last year) and asking them similar questions to those posed above. I'm hoping I can get some concrete feedback about their choices and how they changed the themes of the play.

Traditional Scholarship

I have several sources, but for the sake of brevity I'll only post a few. Is that okay, Professor Burton?

Bonnell, Andrew G. "Shylock and Othello under the Nazis." German Life and Letters 63.2 (2010): 166-178.

A paper about how The Merchant of Venice was performed and adapted in the Third Reich. A good, if a little extreme, example of how adaptations reflect the culture.

Klein, Elizabeth & Shapiro, Michael. "Shylock as crypto-Jew: a new Mexican adaptation of The Merchant of Venice." World-Wide Shakespeares: Local appropriations in film and performance. New York: Routledge, 2005. 31-39.

This article describes an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice from New Mexico, called The Merchant of Santa Fe. In this adaptation, Shylock is turned into an archetype from local colonialist history; this interplay between the original text and local culture is exactly what I want to talk about.

This Scott, Michael?
Picture taken from Wikipedia.

Scott, Michael. "Demythologizing Shlylock: Arnold Wesker, The Merchant; Charles Marowitz, Variations on The Merchant of Venice." Shakespeare and the Modern Dramatist. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989.

An article discussing two rewrites of the play from the 1960s. This article provides a look at modern adaptations, which would provide a good counterpoint to my other, mostly historical examples.