Performances
Billington, Michael. "King Lear- Review." The Guardian. Guardian News Media, 1 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2016. In a mixed review of Lucy Bailey's 60's gangster version of King Lear, Billington points to Samuel Edward-Cook's portrayal of Edmund as a promiscuous bisexual as one of the highlights of the show. This review of a performance is important in that it exemplifies Edmund's portrayal in modern theater as a queer character.
"King Lear | Richard Goulding and Kieran Bew on playing Edmund and Edgar | Digital Theatre Plus." Youtube, uploaded by DigitalTheatrePlus, 19 March 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMw4GOT92UQ. The actors Kieran Bew and Richard Goulding, who acted in a 2012 production of King Lear staged at the Almedia in London, discuss the brotherly dynamics between Edgar and Edmund in the play. This interview is interesting for my argument in that it sheds light on the idea of Edmund as cultural deviant rather than just a merely sexual one.
Social Sources
Expert. Michael Ryan. Professor Ryan teaches film and media arts at Temple University and I found out about him by reading his article "Queer Lear: A Gender Studies Reading of Shakespeare's King Lear." I emailed him about his thoughts on the ambiguity of Edmund's sexuality in light of his queer reading of the play and he gave me his insights about Edmund's sexuality only being ambiguous in a heteronormative reading of the play. The idea of Edmund being heterosexual in a queer reading of the play adds complexity to the scholarly debate and should be discussed in the essay.
Expert. Drew Daniel. Dr. Drew Daniel is one half of the gay experimental techno duo Matmos and an associate professor of English literature at Johns Hopkins University. I found out about him by listening to his work as Matmos and reading some of his articles. I would email him about his views on how Edmund's ambiguous sexuality modify the popular discussion of the play since his perspective would be interesting as someone who bridges the academic and popular spheres.
*Has not gotten back to me yet.
Enthusiast. Darren McGarvey. He was my high school theater teacher who enjoyed teaching Shakespeare and emphasizing the performance aspect. I emailed him about how he thought Edmund's sexuality figured into modern performances of the character. I believe that as someone who is aware of Shakespeare and has experience with Shakespearean performances, McGarvey's interpretation could shed some interesting light on my argument.
*Has not emailed back yet.
Peer. Elise Simmons. She is in my Shakespeare class and also doing a research paper about Edmund in King Lear. I chose this person since she is also researching Edmund and might be able to point me towards scholarship which elucidates Edmund's character. I direct messaged her on the classroom Slack page asking if she had found anything in her research about Edmund's sexuality and/or deviance.
*Has not contacted me back yet.
Homie. Dariya Smith. Dariya Smith is an English major who is also minoring in Women's Studies and has a strong interest in gender issues in literature. I chose her because of her passion for the intersection between literature and gender, which most of my homies seem to lack. I talked to her about the evidence for Edmund's ambiguous sexuality and how this seems to crop up in recent adaptations. During our conversation she pushed me to come up with more evidence from the text that Edmund's sexuality is debatable, which is critical for crafting a decent argument.
I think your topic is so intersting and I'm sure there's a lot being written about gender and Shakespeare right now. My only suggestion would be to edit your post and put your working thesis at the top - that way if someone doesn't know or remember what your topic is they can reference the top and see how your sources are relevent.
ReplyDeleteI made those changes, thanks so much Riley!
ReplyDelete