1. Introduction

Despite some critics’ claims that we are in a “post-fidelity moment” in which the Shakespearean text is no longer considered sacred, there is still a lively discussion about how and where to draw the line between what is “Shakespeare” and what is not “Shakespeare.” This essay collection addresses the paradox that something—a play, a film, an object, a story—may not merely resemble its corollary in the Shakespeare canon, but perhaps more puzzling, at once “be” and “not be” Shakespeare. This phenomenon can be a matter of perception rather than authorial intention (audiences may detect Shakespeare where the author disclaims him or may have difficulty finding him where he is named); it may equally be a product of intertextual and intermedial relations, processes that work on the level of semiotics and material substrate, apart from more overt processes of influence and reception.