SHAKESPEARE’S ‘GENTLER GAMESTERS’ AND ISER’S PLAY THEORY
The aim of this seminar is to approach Richard II in terms of Wolfgang Iser’s concept of literary play (thematic & formal, and its aesthetic and ethical implications), thereby exploring the possibilities of understanding politics and history this ludic reading opens up, and to discuss the findings against the current crisis of ‘post-truth’ politics (Oxford Dictionaries’ ’Word of the Year’ in 2016).