Denise Newfield
School of Literature, Language and Media at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
South African Shakespeareans bid farewell to a giant of Shakespeare studies in southern contexts, Martin Orkin, who passed away in Israel in April of this year at the age of 78.
Professor Orkin’s work in activist pedagogy and scholarship was a crystallisation of time, place and history, a response to the complex and intricate play of forces constraining dramaturgy and the teaching of literature. He taught and inspired generations of students during his tenure at Wits University (1975-1998) and subsequently at the University of Haifa.
Not afraid to be controversial and to upset the (white) Shakespeare scholarly community in apartheid South Africa, he performed an engaged scholarship which situated his plays within the deep fissures of society. His cutting-edge and prescient approach challenged and moved both students and staff at Wits, leading to important critical debates about literary studies. These were frequently acrimonious.
Committed to equality and justice for all, his publications from the late 1980s until his most recent book Race (2019) cemented his international reputation as a literary scholar. As John Drakakis wrote in response to the news of Orkin’s passing: ‘Martin was a brave and courageous literary and cultural critic, qualities he combined with an extraordinary humanity and generosity of spirit.’
Shakespeare against Apartheid (1987), written during a time of intensifying polarisation and militarisation in South African society, sought to politicise the teaching and learning of Shakespeare. Orkin argued that the traditional text-centred and character-centred approaches of the day reinforced the dominant order’s hegemony in South Africa, instead of enabling critical awareness of issues of power and justice in South African society. He protested against the ‘narrowness of South African criticism’ which in his view constrained the meanings and relevance of the plays.
Through this book, Orkin ‘struck the first and still the most decisive blow against bardolatry’ in South Africa, as David MacFarlane put it. His interpretations of the plays spotlighted nefarious state dealings and themes, which continue to haunt South Africa today. Hamlet was discussed in terms of state power in Denmark and South Africa; it opened up parallels between apartheid’s infamous security system and that in the Denmark of the play. King Lear was presented in terms of the notorious Natives Land Act of 1913, which stripped indigenous peoples of their land.
His next Shakespeare book, Postcolonial Shakespeares (2002), co-edited with Ania Loomba, was the outcome of an international conference which Orkin organised at Wits University in 1996, along with progressive members from other departments (he was the sole representative of the English Department). In Local Shakespeares: Proximations and Power (2005), another lively and combative book, Orkin continued to challenge neo-colonial ‘metropolitan’ criticism, in opposition to which he offered an approach to the later plays based on ‘local knowledges’.
The celebratory Drama and the South African State, published in 1991, explored the protest and resistance theatre of Athol Fugard, Lewis Nkosi, Workshop 71, Matsemela Manaka, Maishe Maponya, the Junction Avenue Theatre Company and others. His latest book, Race (2019), co-written with Alexa Alice Joubin, may be seen as a culmination of his quest for a pedagogy and criticism that intimately connects literature with society, and, in particular, engages with discriminatory practices and ideologies.
Martin was a sensitive and humane teacher and friend, and an ardently brave cultural and literary scholar. His criticism may be seen as a record of his soul. His presence will be missed by the local and international academic community, but his ideas will continue to prick and tantalise, and hopefully prompt us to Shakespearean projects that continue to fight for equality and justice.
Hamba Kahle, Martin.
