Lynda Boose and Margreta de Grazia discuss Othello, which is often considered to be the most popular of Shakespeare’s tragedies, yet is the object of continuing critical disparagement. Why is this so? How do the themes of human sexuality, love, betrayal, and jealousy combine and diverge to produce Othello‘s popularity with theater goers and disapproval on the part of literary critics?
At the time of this interview, Boose was a visiting professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. De Grazia, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1982-83), was professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
