THE MENTAL AND THEATRICAL MAPS OF SHAKESPEARE'S ROMANCES: A ROMANIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The paper surveys the spatial co-ordinates that frame the imaginary geography of Shakespeare’s romances, which map out a conventionalised visual representation of an increasingly fragmented world, torn apart by religions, political, linguistic, social and cultural differences. How do these particular plays address and paraphrase the English Renaissance drama’s interpretation of the world beyond English shores and of the others that inhabited those spaces? If the romances emphasise final union through initial dislocation and dissension, do they typify a particular Jacobean interpretation of topography and stage world? Inspecting briefly the reception of Shakespeare’s romances in Romania during the past decades, the focus will shift on the reversed cultural perspective, by examining the way these plays contributed to the formation of individual and group identities in an equally antagonist social and political milieu.