PLANET OPHELIA: DOING SHAKESPEARE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

REGISTER HERE. Participants will receive a Certificate of Professional Development issued by UniTrento.

Lecture with Shaul Bassi (Ca’ Foscari University, Venice)

ABSTRACT

This lecture explores how Shakespeare’s works can help us think differently about the ecological crisis of the Anthropocene. By rereading his plays through the lens of today’s climate challenges, it shows how literature can speak powerfully to issues such as environmental anxiety, changing relationships with nature, and conflicts between generations and communities. Moving across plays such as Hamlet, The Tempest, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice and Othello, the lecture highlights the value of bringing scientific knowledge and the humanities together, and suggests that Shakespeare can still offer insight, imagination and guidance as we try to understand ourselves and envision more sustainable future.

Shaul Bassi is Full Professor of English Literature and Environmental Humanities at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. His research spans Shakespeare, Environmental Humanities, postcolonial theory—with a focus on Indian and African contexts—and Jewish studies. He has taught at Wake Forest University in Venice, Venice International University, and the Harvard–Ca’ Foscari Summer School, and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He co-founded and directed the Incroci di civiltà literature festival and directed Ca’ Foscari’s International Center for the Humanities and Social Change, contributing to the creation of the master’s programme in Environmental Humanities.