Shakespeare in Quebec: Nation, Gender, and Adaptation

In Shakespeare in Qu?bec, Jennifer Drouin analyses representations of nation and gender in Shakespearean adaptations written in Qu?bec since the Quiet Revolution. Using postcolonial and gender theory, Drouin traces the evolution of discourses of nation and gender in Qu?bec from the Conquest of New France to the present, and she elaborates a theory of adaptation specific to Shakespeare studies.

Drouin's book explains why Qu?b?cois playwrights seem so obsessed with rewriting "le grand Will," what changes they make to the Shakespearean text, and how the differences between Shakespeare and the adaptations engage the nationalist, feminist, and queer concerns of Qu?bec society.

Close readings from ten plays investigate the radical changes to content that allowed Qu?b?cois playwrights to advocate for political change and contribute to the hot debates of the Quiet Revolution, the 1970 October Crisis, the 1980 and 1995 referenda, the rise of feminism, and the emergence of AIDS. Drouin reveals not only how Shakespeare has been adapted in Qu?bec but also how Qu?b?cois adaptations have evolved in response to changes in the political climate. As a critical analysis in English of rich but largely ignored French plays, Shakespeare in Qu?bec bridges Canada's "two solitudes."