"TIME IS OUT OF PLACE" - Elisabeth Bronfen on Shakespeare, Trump, power & intrigue

Robert Misik in conversation with Elisabeth Bronfen and Christian Kern

„TIME IS OUT OF JOINT"

Elisabeth Bronfen on Shakespeare, Trump, power and intrigue.

„Time is out of joint,“ says Hamlet, the Danish prince. These days, there's no need to say much about the topicality of the diagnosis. Order is eroding and there is a lack of capable leaders. Elisabeth Bronfen, the famous literary scholar, subjects the plays of the legendary playwright to a current and political re-reading in her book „Shakespeare and his serial motifs“, hot off the press.

Power may have changed its embodiments since Shakespeare's time - kings, generals, bearers of personal power are no longer central today - it tends to waft in the capillaries of society, has dissolved into structures, and yet Shakespeare's questions are as topical as if he had pondered them the day before yesterday. The power that goes hand in hand with powerlessness, the unintended side-effects of actions that are taken. Those who act rashly wreak havoc, those who are prudent even more so. King Lear, the irascible old man, arranges his succession and sets the disaster in motion; Hamlet, the procrastinator, who knows that he cannot act, becomes incapable of action. Compromise leads to no solutions, the uncompromising wade through a sea of blood. Incompetent kings sit on the throne, corrupt courtiers and malicious advisors fawn over them. Who wouldn't immediately think of Donald Trump and the mafia fascism surrounding him, Elon Musk or J. D. Vance? Passion leaves a trail of blood, as do ambition, vindictiveness, vanity and the desire to please.

Thus Shakespeare lives on, is read by us today „in a dialogue with our current cultural concerns“ (Bronfen). Christian Kern, an expert on both Shakespeare and the abysses of power and politics, comments on the work under the guidance of Robert Misik.

Elisabeth Eve Bronfen is a cultural and literary scholar and author; she was Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at the University of Zurich from 1993 to 2023. She has also been a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University since 2007.

Christian Kern is an Austrian manager and former politician. He was Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria from May 2016 to December 2017 and party chairman of the Austrian Social Democratic Party from 2016 to 2018. Today he is CEO of the European Locomotive Leasing Group.

Moderation Robert Misik, Author and journalist