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Will and Jane

Will and Jane go to war
Penguin Editions
Shakespeare and Beyond

Will and Jane go to war

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

During World War I, the works of Shakespeare and Austen reached American troops on active duty through the American Library Association’s “War Service Library” program.  Between 1917 and 1920, the program collected donations of used books to help them distribute…

What turns a good writer into a superstar? 200 years and plenty of spectacle
Shakespeare and Beyond

What turns a good writer into a superstar? 200 years and plenty of spectacle

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

In commemoration of the approximate 200th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, the London actor and theatrical entrepreneur David Garrick launched the first celebration of Shakespeare as “the god of our idolatry” in 1769, helping to fashion the Bard as the larger-than-life,…

Repetition is celebrity: Shakespeare and Austen
Shakespeare and Beyond

Repetition is celebrity: Shakespeare and Austen

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

As curators of Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity we both began our work in the archives with established interests in the connections between literary greatness and consumer culture. Janine has written about the marketing tactics…

11 actors who have played Shakespeare and Austen roles
Shakespeare and Beyond

11 actors who have played Shakespeare and Austen roles

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Author
Esther French

If you’re a fan of both Shakespeare and Jane Austen, you may have noticed some overlap in the actors who portray these classic roles in stage productions and film adaptations. As the curators of the Folger exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare,…

Quiz: Can you pair these Jane Austen and Shakespeare characters?
Shakespeare and Beyond

Quiz: Can you pair these Jane Austen and Shakespeare characters?

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Author
Esther French

Take this quiz and test your knowledge of Jane Austen and Shakespeare! We give you a character from a Jane Austen novel, and you pick the corresponding character from Shakespeare’s plays, based on personality or storyline. Can you pair these Shakespeare…

Will and Jane continued: adaptations, modernizations, and fan fiction
Shakespeare and Beyond

Will and Jane continued: adaptations, modernizations, and fan fiction

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

Although the Bard may have a longer history of such flattery, both Will and Jane have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous adaptations. In the 20th century, Austen joined Shakespeare in his entrance into modern media—film, television, and digital forms—as…

Collecting Will and Jane
Shakespeare and Beyond

Collecting Will and Jane

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

One of the stories told by the current exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity is that literary renown is as much about commodities as about books. Literary celebrity transforms authors into objects. Our exhibition traces…

Jane Austen's Shakespeare
Shakespeare and Beyond

Jane Austen's Shakespeare

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

Jane Austen, who was born in 1775, came of age in the 1790s and started publishing in the 1810s; her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, came out in 1811. She died in 1817, which makes 2017 the 200th anniversary of…

Reading ahead for "Will & Jane"
Shakespeare and Beyond

Reading ahead for "Will & Jane"

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Shakespeare & Beyond

As you’ve seen on this blog already, the next Folger exhibition, Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity (August 6 to November 6), will be a fascinating look at the posthumous celebrities of William Shakespeare and Jane…

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'
Shakespeare and Beyond

From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'

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Author
Janine Barchas Kristina Straub

As curators of the upcoming exhibition Will & Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity opening at the Folger on August 6, we could not help viewing the new Austen film Love & Friendship through a Shakespearean lens—and with…