Content area
Full Text
Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the Canon, ed. W.R. Owens and Lizbeth Goodman. New York: Routledge for The Open University, 1996. 346 pages. Illustrated. Accompanying video and audio cassettes.
Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the Canon is one of a four-volume series Approaching Literature designed for students at The Open University of Great Britain. This volume introduces students to the concept of the literary canon, using Aphra Behn's play The Rover as an example of a recently canonized work in comparison with three plays by the canonical author in English: Henry V, Othello, and As You Like It. As well as considering the whys and wherefores of canon formation, Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the Canon links the plays discussed by focusing especially on issues of gender and race and on performance. The book is written for students engaged in distance learning, primarily by correspondence enhanced by television programs, and the authors address the student-readers of the text directly, sometimes asking them to write down their views on various issues. Two videos, produced by The Open University in conjunction with the BBC, accompany Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the Canon. One comprises workshops, discussions, and scenes from As You Like It (120 minutes); the other is a production of The Rover (in its entirety) performed by the Women's Playhouse Trust (240 minutes); the first 20 minutes of The Rover video consist of an interview with WPT director/ designer Jules Wright and BBC/ OU producer/ director Tony Coe. (American teachers and students may obtain the videos from Routledge at a cost of $75 each.)
Shakespeare, Aphra Behn and the Canon includes chapters on the the process of canonization and the reasons for challenging the traditional canon, on the three Shakespearean plays, and on The Rover, as well as a text of The Rover edited by W.R Owens. The chapters on Shakespeare's plays deal with such critical issues as character, language, theme, and performance as well as canon. Roger Day in his chapter on Othello points out that this play, originally canonical because written by Shakespeare, has, in effect, been recanonized because it deals with issues of race and gender that are of contemporary concern.
W.R Owens begins his chapter on The Rover by explaining both the reasons for its long...