Decentering the Bard: The Localization of "King Lear" in Egyptian TV Drama "Dahsha"

Yasser Fouad Selim

doi:10.18778/2083-8530.18.10

Authors

Yasser Fouad Selim Sohag University, Egypt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.18.10

Keywords:

King Lear, The Arab Shakespeare, Adaptation, Localization, Dahsha, Local Shakespeare, Global Shakespeare

Abstract

Dahsha [Bewilderment] is an Egyptian TV series written by scriptwriter Abdelrahim Kamal and adapted from Shakespeare’s King Lear. The TV drama locates Al Basel Hamad Al Basha, Lear’s counterpart, in Upper Egypt and follows a localized version of the king’s tragedy starting from the division of his lands between his two wicked daughters and the disinheritance of his sincere daughter till his downfall. This study examines the relationship between Dahsha and King Lear and investigates the position of the Bard when contextualized in other cultures, revisited in other locales, and retold in other languages. It raises many questions about Shakespeare’s proximity to the transcultural/transnational adaptations of his plays. Does Shakespeare’s discourse limit the interpretation of the adapted works or does it promote intercultural conversations between the varying worldviews? Where is the Bard positioned when contextualized in other cultures, revisited in other locales, and retold in other languages? Does he stand in the center or at the margin? The study attempts to answer these questions and to read the Egyptian localization of King Lear as an independent work that transposes Shakespeare from a central dominant element into a periphery that remains visible in the background of the Upper Egyptian drama.

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Author Biography

Yasser Fouad Selim, Sohag University, Egypt

Yasser Fouad Selim is an associate professor of English Literature at the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Sohag University, Egypt. He is also Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Research at Al Buraimi University College, Oman (on-secondment). He received his PhD from Sohag University, Egypt, in joint supervision with the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include digital humanities, the interaction, clashes and dialogue between Western and Eastern cultures, and the formation of identity within the contexts of politics, racialization, and ethnicization in America. He is the editor of Who Defines Me? Negotiating Identity in Language and Literature (2014) and the author of various articles published in refereed journals and in books.

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