The Out of Place: Law, Literature & Migration Research Group invites you to a talk by Professor Paul Yachnin, Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies at McGill University.
The presentation begins with what law is in The Merchant of Venice. What is at stake in the play’s representation of law? How does the law restrict and valorize the mobility of a man like Shylock? As it turns out, in fact, both Shylock and his creator are legal aliens in their respective cities and both are also involved in shady business practices. What we could call "the laws of kind" even put Shylock’s humanity in question, casting him as a human-canine hybrid. And the laws of kind extend to genre as well as species, so the question is about the play as well as about Shylock. How does the law in The Merchant of Venice foster the movement of theatrical practice (including playhouse judgment) and dramatic poetry into the public domain of language and practice where law lives?
Thursday, May 31, 12:00-1:30
McGill University, Faculty of Law, New Chancellor Day Hall
3644 Peel, 6th floor, room 609
