Thank you to Daniel Pollack-Pelzner for introducing The Merchant of Venice. Daniel and I have known each other since high school—if memory serves, I first encountered Daniel at a speech contest, where he and his partner beat the pants off me and my partner. Daniel ended up at the same college as me, and was also a longtime family friend of my spouse Jennifer. In short, Daniel and I have known each other a long time, and I am thrilled that he agreed to provide an introduction. (He was the first person I asked!)
Daniel Pollack-Pelzner is the Ronni Lacroute Chair in Shakespeare Studies at Linfield University. He helped to edit The Norton Shakespeare, and his articles on Shakespeare and contemporary culture have appeared recently in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His fictional version of Shakespeare’s quarantine diary, “What Shakespeare Actually Did During the Plague,” is being adapted into a film for public television. The scholar-in-residence at the Portland Shakespeare Project and a frequent guest lecturer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he met his wife in a fifth-grade production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Many thanks to my friend Joey Bianco of Whim Wham for the animated video elements.
Wow— terrific introduction! I admit that I wasn’t looking forward to Delving into The Merchant of Venice, but now I’m excited to re-read and reconsider this play. Thank you, Daniel, for offering your perspectives!
Amy
I agree with Daniel that this play is very difficult, and thank him for breaking down his analysis into such useful sub-groups for our consideration. All the comedies seem to be ambiguous in various ways, but Daniel highlighted so many more questions for this one; the interplay of gender and class is particularly interesting.f
This is a fantastic introduction to the play. His students are lucky to have such an interesting and engaging teacher.
What an inspiring, fluent, just and comprehensive introduction to an intriguing and unsettling play. Thank you.