Race and the Classics: An Argument for Empathy

Centering the corporeal and identitarian distance between racialized and ethnicized actors and adaptations of classics, we contend that these spaces between lived (the actor), performed (the character), and witnessed (the audience member) exist as zones of potential empathetic connection. Recent studies question whether reading literary fiction indeed makes us more empathic, and if empathy can be an effective political tool. We question the efficacy of such adaptations and note how race grounds these plays differently than an updated white setting. However, we are also convinced that the first step toward dialogue requires people being willing to encounter one another and consider another’s point of view.