I hate Ian Doescher. William
Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher, like Cardboard Gods, Josh Wilker’s memoir told through baseball cards,
and The Lover’s Dictionary, David
Levithan’s story of a relationship told through dictionary entries, is a book
whose structure frustrates me. Frustrates me because the latent writer in me
hears about it and believes that, had I come up with the idea, I could have
written this book. (And by “could have” I of course mean “should have.”) But I
didn’t. He did. And for that I hate him. But don’t let my hate stop you from
reading Doescher’s excellent five-act iambic pentameter retelling of the
original Star Wars. If droid-inspired Daft Punk can top the charts, and science
fiction icon Joss Whedon can release a Shakespeare comedy, then surely the time
is right for a Shakespearean version of Star
Wars.
Star Wars (err, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) was
the first film I remember seeing in a theater, and I engaged my brother in many
a light saber duel. As for the Shakespeare connection, I am a high school
English teacher. Need I say more? Can you visualize the overlap in this Venn
diagram? So the stars were aligned for my appreciation of this beautifully
designed book (seriously, the cover, the illustrations, the font—and be sure to
take the slip cover off—talk about attention to detail). You have waited too
long for the nerd glory that is this book. You have waited too long to hear
Hans say “I prithee, Chewie, keep the ships at bay” (137). And you didn’t know
how badly you needed to hear Jabba and Greedo speak in iambic pentameter.
But Doescher’s book is not all whimsy and japery. In his
afterword, he writes a passionate defense of the literary merit of Star Wars, with references to Joseph
Campbell, the hero’s journey, and archetypes. Such a defense is superfluous for
nerds, who already know such things. But it is useful for non-nerdy English
teachers, of whom there are too many (shocking claim, I know). Indeed, this
book should be added to the repertoire of every Shakespeare teacher. Doescher
has gone to great pains to replicate the structure of a Shakespeare play, and
allusions to actual Shakespeare plays abound (“What light through yonder
flashing sensor breaks?”). Although for many of my students Star Wars is from a galaxy as far away as Shakespeare’s England, those of us trying to demonstrate the lingering
contrails of Shakespeare’s works can use William
Shakespeare’s Star Wars as the jocular proof.
3 comments :
The best thing I've ever read with the sentence "I hate Ian Doescher" in it. Thanks. :-)
And now I feel terrible that I haven't even had the chance to start reading it, much less write my own review. ;)
Seriously, I can't wait to read this one.
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