Novel Shakespeares: Twentieth-century Women Novelists and Appropriation

Much recent contemporary fiction by women has appropriated and adapted themes and plot structures found in Shakespearean drama. Julie Sanders examines an international spread of such texts, considering novels by authors from the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa and Australia, whose stories are set in locations covering the globe. During this investigation she considers environmental theory, the Hollywood and Bollywood film industries, detective fiction, children's literature, and the politics of postcolonialism. Angela Carter's Wise Children, Marina Warner's Indigo and Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres are discussed alongside less familiar works, which include Susan Cooper's King of Shadows, Leslie Forbes's Bombay Ice and Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet.