Communing with the mulberry: Grafting person to plant in Shakespeare’s fandom

Abstract

William Shakespeare's mulberry tree, which he allegedly planted and raised in the early seventeenth century in his garden in Stratford-upon-Avon, is a peculiar site in which material culture, ecology, and fan studies collide. I seek to understand the entanglements of fandom, fan identity, antifandom, and environment by analyzing the trajectory of Shakespeare's mulberry as a relic or souvenir imbued with the Bard's legacy. Bardolatry is sustained by (and, through antifandom, threatens) the landscape that embodies and is embodied by Shakespeare's fans.