What turns a good writer into a superstar? 200 years and plenty of spectacle
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
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
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?
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
Both Shakespeare and Austen have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous adaptations into modern media—film, television, and digital forms—as well as print spin-offs, fan fiction, radical modernizations, and even travesties.
Collecting Will and Jane
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
Two centuries after his death, Austen witnessed Shakespeare’s rise towards literary megastardom firsthand. Learn how she experienced the Bard, reading and admiring his works, referencing him in her own novels, and seeing his plays performed.
Reading ahead for "Will & Jane"
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…
America's Shakespeare: Connections between the Bard and the Founding Fathers
America’s Shakespeare: How George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams quoted Shakespeare during and after the American Revolution.
From Hero to Lady Susan: Kate Beckinsale in 'Love & Friendship'
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…
War and America's Shakespeare
“Extremity is the trier of spirits/ Common chances common men will bear.” Quoting from Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Abigail Adams praised the courage of the militiamen at the Battle of Bunker Hill in a letter to her husband, John Adams, in 1775. From the…
Quiz: How well do you know the history of Shakespeare in America?
Shakespeare shows up in America’s history over and over again, from our country’s founding to today. Try our quiz to see how much you know and what may surprise you!