Female Othellos

This study aims at examining the contemporary stage adaptations of «Othello» by the four noteworthy contemporary playwrights Ann Marie MacDonald, Djanet Sears, Paula Vogel and Toni Morrison, while discussing their plays both within and outside the framework of Adaptation Studies. Drawing on postcolonial and feminist theories along with psychoanalytical theories and theories of adaptation, this book explores the adaptive levels, contexts and strategies of the four women playwrights in revising «Othello». The anxiety of canonization that the contemporary women playwrights experience, is also addressed as an issue parallel to their authorial relations with Shakespeare. In the hands of contemporary women playwrights, «Othello» thematically makes a call for new contemporary women’s perspectives and technically provides an everlasting space for further feminist adaptations, already becoming a signifier of the signification process itself.

Inci Bilgin Tekin holds a PhD in English Literature and is Assistant Professor of English at Bogazici University. Her publications focus on adaptation and reception studies as well as contemporary feminist and postcolonial drama.