Retellings of “Romeo and Juliet” in the 21st century: the “star-crossed lovers” theme
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24866/2949-2580/2025-1/30-45Keywords:
modern American literature, W. Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”, quote, source text, literary retelling, allusionAbstract
The article focuses on the analysis of three novels by contemporary American writers. The given novels are literary retellings of W. Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet". The quote “star-crossed” from the tragedy in question is used as the title for each of the three novels. Small changes made to the quote are reflected in the development of the novels’plot. The use of the famous quote determines the common features of the novels: similar character names, plot twists, common allusions. The main theme of the novels is love overcoming difficulties. When creating literary retellings, the authors changed minor details and introduced new characters telling the story from their own points of view. Unlike Shakespearean tragedy, novels have a happy ending. Recognizing the source text makes it possible to interest teenagers in Shakespeare’s plays and keep the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” in the reading range of modern youth.
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