Shakespeare in XIXth century America

[WuWei]

Ok, ok, I know, those "I'm a lazy student please help me" threads are beyond annoying. And yes, this is kinda one of them.

Still, I'm not lazy, I'm not exactly (or solely) a student anymore and, what the hell, I do need help with this. I'm doing research myself, obviously, but a little help would be nice.

I'm looking for all the short stories, novels, poems, plays you guys can think of that were written in the American Renaissance (or slightly earlier or later) which are (hopefully) hugely indebted to Shakespeare. My research is primarly focused on prose, so short stories and novels would be great, but at this point I'm basically reading everything, I'll narrow my scope later.

An example of what I'm looking for (the most obvious example, to be precise) is Moby Dick and of course all that's been said about it (Olson and so on). Anything from Melville (yes, Benito Cereno has already occured to me), Hawthorne, Poe etc.etc. would be more than welcome.

Thank you very very much, I appreciate you taking time for this.

[kelby_lake]

19th century American literature which is like Shakespeare? Can't think of any. And American drama was basically dead before the 20th century so you won't find much there.

[WuWei]

Mmmm no, I meant American prose which was rich in Shakespearean themes/images/techniques.

An example are the famous Shakespearean scenes and characters in Moby Dick.

Another example the Iago-like silence of Babo at the end of Benito Cereno.

Something like that.

[WuWei]

Nothing?

Ouch, I really hoped someone could help me here

[Rores28]

This probably isn't in the time frame you are lookin for but Brave New World has a lot of shakespeare references.

[WuWei]

This probably isn't in the time frame you are lookin for but Brave New World has a lot of shakespeare references.

Thanks for replying!

Actually, I wrote an essay on Shakespeare in Brave New World last year, it will be published in a few months eheh

Unfortunately the novel is neither American nor was written in the XIXth century

[kelby_lake]

Don't remember anything particularly Shakespearean about Moby Dick.

If you're stuck with the 19th century, you're pretty stuffed, I reckon.

[WuWei]

Don't remember anything particularly Shakespearean about Moby Dick.

If you're stuck with the 19th century, you're pretty stuffed, I reckon.

Yep, I'm pretty much stuck with that!

Anyway, if you're interested in the numerous Shakespearean themes in Moby Dick you could read Olson's "Call me Ismael", a real masterpiece.

[hellsapoppin]

I have read where NYC's Bowery theater during the 1830s-1860 was heavily influenced by Shakespeare. Many of the Bard's works were performed and were very popular. In fact, there was the story of a famous NYC riot on or about 1850 which was caused by a theater's use of a British actor to portray a Shakespearean hero while the crowd wanted an American to portray that role. It was said this started the infamous Nativist movement with the "rascal" Ned Buntline leading the charge.