Rather than The Tempest Retold it might be more aptly subtitled The Tempest: Engaged. The latest entry, Margaret Atwood’s fun, quirky Tempestadaptation, Hag-Seed, toys with this foregrounding and backgrounding, as well as taking on the literal, figurative, critical, and sociological aspects of the story. Part of that storied tradition, the Hogarth Shakespeare Project pairs eight well-known authors with one of the plays. The Bard appears so often in either the foreground or background of our narratives that we hardly notice anymore. If this ubiquitous Hollywood English-class scene teaches us anything, it may be an illustration of just how much the plays of Shakespeare - not to mention talking about Shakespeare, making comparisons to Shakespeare, re-examining Shakespeare in another light - has become so ingrained in our folklore. The students in this stereotypical story, of course, will be writing or acting out some scenes from the chosen play, and, inevitably, our young protagonists will learn something about themselves over the course of the assignment.

Look no further than Lin-Manuel Miranda’s substitute teacher sketch in a recent Saturday Night Live to see the cliché get called out for what it is. Michael Vartan in Never Been Kissed, drawing parallels between Rosalind in As You Like It and Drew Barrymore’s Josie. Morgan rapping Sonnet 141 to Julia Stiles’s delight in 10 Things I Hate About You. “He’s writing for and about young people just like you.” “Shakespeare was a man of the people,” he says.

“Today,” he announces, “we’re starting a unit on Shakespeare.” The class groans.

He is One of Us but also so, so much wiser. His tawny hair sweeps back from his forehead. The teacher sits on the edge of his desk, slouching jauntily, maybe with one foot perched on a chair.

Hag seed book review