Shakespeare is one of the inventors of the category of the human as many modern and contemporary cultures know it. Even his most monstrous and otherworldly creations have a detectable human side. The critical tradition of Shakespeare has already established that these characters are to be read as reflections of certain psychological aspects and repressed characteristics of the main characters of his plays, as allegorical representations of emotions, principles or beliefs, as codification of ethnic and sexual differences, etc. Thanks to this tradition, focusing on the human side of these characters has become the norm. It happens almost intuitively as soon as a critic or scholar starts their analysis of these characters. While it does not seek to deny the validity of these readings of Shakespeare's creature-characters, this collection shifts the focus from the human side of these characters to argue that their non-human and posthuman features are, in turn, a critical lens to explore the cultural landscapes in which they were conceived, developed and adapted.

This collection aims to investigate the ghostliness of ghosts, the witchcraft of witches, the magic of the fairies, the ethereal nature of spirits and the monstrosity of monsters. While the contributors should refer to the epistemological and discursive power dynamics involved in creation, evolution and interpretations of Shakespeare’s creature-characters, they should not center their analysis on these themes that have extensively been researched. It is also common for human characters in Shakespeare to be referred to as angels, monsters, toads, devils, etc. This is not a theme of this book. Similarly, human characters who pretend to be ghosts or statues concern this collection only in so far as they tell us about the belief systems that sustain their performances. In this call for chapters, creature-character is a concept that refers to imaginary beings that have distinctive personal traits. It describes special characters in Shakespeare such as:

-           Oberon

-           Titania

-           Puck

-           The Ghost of King Hamlet (as a ghost)

-           Macbeth's Witches

-           Hecate

-           Ariel

-           Caliban

This book seeks to explore how magic, monstrosity and ghostliness are performed on the stage and beyond. We are also interested in chapters about the adaptations and performances of the plays that feature these characters or works that feature these characters or characters and creatures inspired by them, especially in science fiction and popular culture. Therefore, contributions can focus on the following themes or any closely related topics:

-        Monstrosity

-        Magic

-        Human, non-human, post-human in Shakespeare

-        Adaptation, performance Shakespeare’s more/less than human

-        Territorial matters and monstrosity

-        Language and the identity of the creature-characters

-        Graphic representation of Shakespeare’s creatures

-        Shakespeare's creature-characters and the Elizabethan world pictures

-        Shakespeare and Monster theory

-        Cinematic representations of Shakespeare's creatures

-        Digital Phantasmagoria: Shakespearean spectral in New Media Adaptations

-        Shakespeare's creatures in arts from the Renaissance to the age of AI

Please send an abstract of 300 words in which you describe your proposed chapter along with a short bio of no more than 150 words to Shakespearemagic2526@gmail.com .

Since most of the reviewers that assess this work will be Shakespearean scholars, the publisher will depend on the quality of the chapters collected. Currently, we are considering our options for the best publishers but we will not contact any of them until we have at least a good number of sample chapters.

No Shakespearean scholar can claim to know everything about the Bard, so we are also looking for at least two more editors to help us with this project. If you are interested kindly send a short bio along with a comprehensive list of your previous works on Shakespeare to n.zouidi@psau.edu.sa