Organizzatrice (con M. Tempera, V. Borghi, M. Pennacchia) e parte del comitato scientifico (con M. Tempera, M. Thornton Burnett, A. Huang, N. Vienne-Guerrin) del convegno "Shakespeare in tatters. Referencing His Works on Film and Television"

The aim of the conference was that of exploring the presence of references to Shakespeare’s works (citations, verbal/visual allusions, parodies, excerpts from performances, etc.) on film and television (soap operas, TV series, sit-coms, etc.). The result was fascinatingly kaleidoscopic: countless of Shakespearean quotes were rearranged in changing and meaningful patterns by scholars coming from extremely far geographies and referring to very different film traditions. One of the most impressive aspects of the Conference was indeed its global momentum with scholars literally convened to Ferrara from all over the world: India (Poonam Trivedi, University of Delhi), Japan (Minami Ryuta, Shirayuri College, and Yoshihara Yukari, University of Tsukuba), USA (Tom Cartelli Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvanya; Amy Scott-Douglass, Marymount University and Alexander Huang George Washington University), Australia (Victoria Bladen, University of Queensland), Russia (Nikolay V. Zakharov and Boris N. Gaydin, Russian Academy of Science), Brasil (Aimara da Cunha Resende, Universitade Federal de Minas Gerais), Mexico (Alfredo Michel Modenessi, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México); Tunisia (Rafik Darragi, University of Tunis), Taiwan (Bi-qui Beatrice Lei, National Taiwan University), South Africa (Christopher Thurman, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg), and, of course, Europe (Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, Université Montpellier 3 – Paul Valéry, Mark Thornton-Burnett, Queen’s University, Belfast). Italy was represented by the host (promoter of the conference?), Mariangela Tempera (University of Ferrara), who invited Maurizio Calbi (University of Salerno), Mariacristina Cavecchi (University of Milan) and Maddalena Pennacchia (Roma Tre University). The debate, too rich and complex to be summed up in few words, ranged widely from the analysis of the nature of the references to Shakespeare and of our recognition that they come from his plays, to Shakespeare as an important figure in forging various national identities force in the process of negotiating complex questions of national identity. Not surprisingly, Romeo and Juliet proved to be the most globally quoted play, followed by Othello, Hamlet, and, quite unexpectedly, Titus Andronicus.