“After God, Shakespeare has created the most.” – Alexandre Dumas, 1859
Shakespeare is ubiquitous today… but was it ever thus? How, when, and why did he become apotheosized within the global canon of literature? How did his memory and legacy become venerated, in some cases almost to the level of idolatry? This talk explores many of the questions that have swirled around the immensely popular, often sensational, and occasionally vulgar phenomenon of “Bardolatry”—a term cynically coined by the playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw in the hope of knocking Shakespeare off the proverbial pedestal of the English literary canon.
Tickets are $10 for members, $15 for the public.
To purchase tickets, click here or call 843-723-9912 during box office hours.
About the Author:
Dr. Earle Havens is Director of the Virginia Fox Stern Center for the History of the Book in the Renaissance, and Nancy H. Hall Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, at Johns Hopkins University. His numerous publications explore the material culture of books and scribal activity during the early modern period, including illicit printing and book smuggling, literary forgery, the history of libraries, and the role of women in print culture.