The Modernity of Shakespeare. Cairo, Egypt, and Washington, D.C.: Cairo University (Center for the Global South) and American University
Ismail Serageldin
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Whenever themes intertwine in any work of art, it should not surprise us that, in the process of their unravelling, some strands are simply discarded while others assume a disproportionate girth and relevance. The influences in that selection, a kind of survival of the fittest, is what is often ignored, mostly because too close an examination may reveal uncomfortable motivations that lie outside the original work of art, and tell us more about the environment, history, politics, economic givens, culture, etc.—of selection and emphasis— than about the work itself, or the artist.