Prof. Stephen Greenblatt: “I never thought that Shakespeare would become my magic carpet to the land of Persia”

The First International Conference on Shakespeare Studies was held on November 26 to 27, 2014 in Iran.

The conference, organized by the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Tehran, explored themes such as ‘Shakespeare and Political Discourse’, ‘Shakespeare under the Iranian Eye’, ‘Shakespeare and Adaptation’, ‘Radical Shakespeare’, ‘Shakespeare and Mysticism’ and ‘Shakespeare and Popular Culture’.

Professor Stephen Greenblatt took part in the conference and delivered a keynote speak focused on Shakespeare and the human condition on November 26. He is one of the world’s most celebrated Shakespearean scholars and best known for Shakespeare biography titled Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare, which was on the New York Times Best Seller List for nine weeks. In 2012 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.

“I never thought that Shakespeare would become my magic carpet to the land of Persia” said Harvard scholar Prof. Greenblatt when he expressed his enthusiasm for Iran and Persian cultural and historical heritage during the conference.

Prof. Mark Burnett from Queen’s University in Belfast, was another keynote speaker whose discussion focused on cinematic representations of Shakespeare in Iran. He talked about an Iranian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet entitled Doubt (Tardid), a 2009 Iranian Crystal Simorgh-winning film directed by Varuzh Karim Masihi.

Iranian scholar Hossein Elahi Ghomshei, author and lecturer on literature, art and mysticism, also spoke at the conference.

The event was organized by Dr. Ismail Salami and Dr. Maryam Soltan Beyad, professors at the University of Tehran.

Source: Iran Front Page