Shakespeare, again? Australian Literary Adaptations of Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults

Abstract

This thesis surveys, codifies and analyses adaptations of Shakespearean plays written by Australian authors for children and Young Adults between 1988 and 2019. It is revealed that the corpus of Australian texts represents a diverse and productive era of adapting Shakespeare. Through an analysis of Australian and international marketplaces, physical and imaginative spaces and the body as a site of meaning, this thesis argues that texts are imbued with the ideological dissemination of Shakespearean cultural capital. Combining current research in children’s literature and Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital further deepens the critical awareness of the status of Australian literature while extending the pre-existing concentration on British, American and Canadian adaptations. Chapter 1 surveys and codifies the Australian marketplace of adaptations by identifying trends and authorial interests. Chapter 2 examines the representation of classroom, stage and imaginative spaces as contemporary sites upon which the texts cast their adaptations. Chapter 3 analyses gendered bodies as sites that recreate characters from Shakespeare’s plays. Chapter 4 returns to the macrocosmic level of the marketplace to contextualise the Australian texts in the international space. This comparative method determines elements of originality in Australian adaptations. This thesis draws into focus the consequences of the socialising nature of children’s literature by both highlighting the didactic and ideological qualities of the Australian texts.