Ling Ma’s 2018 pandemic novel Severance directly references dozens of other works of literature, music, and film as the story unfolds. The references to Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare stick out like neon to me. I think Ling Ma made Romeo and Juliet more prominent to make points about nostalgia, repetition, and routine in storytelling and art.
Nostalgia, repetition, and routine are the novel’s central themes.
Citing the Spark1
I read this novel and the play back to back because they were The Stacks Podcast Bookclub picks for November 2023 and December 2023 (respectively). The coincidence of deeply reading these together with #thestackspack and The Stacks Podcast definitely positioned me to perceive the significant connection between the two works.
The Oldest Work (Besides the Bible)
Candace Chen, the main character of Severance, works in a niche area of publishing. From an NYC office, she handles all the logistics of Bible manufacturing in factories in China. I think Romeo and Juliet gets the most direct attention as an allusion because, like the Bible, it’s a very old book. How many countless times since its debut in the 1530s has Romeo and Juliet been read, retold, reimagined, performed, studied, republished, etc? It is a work of art that has a routine presence in art, literature, and our lives.
To add icing to the repetition cake…
Did you know that Romeo and Juliet is a retelling? That’s right, it’s not Shakespeare’s original idea. He’s repeating and modernizing a beloved tale for his audience and time period. I learned this in Episode 299 of The Stacks Podcast. Host Traci Thomas was speaking with Shakespeare Scholar Farah Karim-Cooper, and here’s what she said:
His source text is Arthur Brooks (1563), a sort of novella version of Romeo and Juliet. Then there’s this kind of ancient story from Verona of Juliet. So, he’s drawing on sources, and the story: it’s timeless. People loved that story. He’s finding a new expression for quite a familiar story.
– Farah Karim-Cooper on The Stacks Podcast, Sep 299 December 20232
Let’s Explore Romeo and Juliet in Severance
1. The Direct Shakespeare References
The character in Severance named Balthasar is a direct reference to Romeo and Juliet‘s Balthasar.
The Balthasar in Severance and the Balthasar in Romeo and Juliet have parallels beyond the name. They both work for the main character.
- Severance: Balthasar is Candace Chen’s production point of contact in China. She meets him on the factory tour in Chapter 6.
- Romeo and Juliet: In the play, he’s Romeo’s manservant.
Both are quietly present behind the scenes of each story, doing key tasks for Candace and Romeo, including delivering really terrible news about death across borders.
- Severance: In the novel, Balthasar tells Candace via phone that the factory is shut down because Shen Fever has claimed the lives of so many people in Shenzen.
- Romeo and Juliet: Balthasar leaves Verona to tell Romeo in Mantua the shattering news of Juliet’s “death.”
Claire Danes
In the same chapter that we meet him, Chapter 6, Balthasar introduces Candace to a coworker with a poster of Claire Danes as Juliet in his workspace. The poster is from her role in the iconic 1996 Baz Lurhmann film version of Romeo and Juliet, which plays right into the book’s strong millennial nostalgia theme.
This detail is what helped me see the connection between Romeo and Juliet and the Bible: how they are both old books still in publication, cycled endlessly through generations.
Shakespeare Anthology on a Stalking Mission
In Chapter 4, Candace is assigned the duty of finding movies and books for the group, as they raid a house. She finds “vanity set pieces that gestured toward the cultured minds of the homeowners” (Ch 4, p 66). One of these books is a Shakespeare anthology.
2. Annotate Candace’s and Jonathan’s “Balcony Scene“
These two meet when Candace sits on her fire escape, which overlooks a raggedy community garden with a single fruit tree: all these details are a nod to the Capulet’s orchard in the play’s famous balcony scene. Jonathan is not on the ground like Romeo. He’s smoking on his windowsill, a floor below Candace, but he does call up to her like Romeo does in the play.
3. Severance’s Take on the Holy Palmers’ Kiss
When they first meet (at a Shark Fin Soup Dinner Party) Jonathan and Candace share a chaste hand shake. At first, I thought, Ok, it’s stretch, but maybe this is their Holy Palmer’s Kiss moment? But, no, months later in the story, I think we get to see their real Holy Palmers’ Kiss or…bite. Their first time they have sex is initiated when Jonathan aggressively bites the back of Candace’s hand in Chapter 11. It’s like a Romeo-and-Juliet-era courtly kiss gone wild. Like sharks, she bites him back, and the intimacy of “introductory sex’ as Candace puts it on page 138 ensues.
Is the hand biting that kicks off their physical intimacy a version of Romeo and Juliet’s holy palmers’ kiss?
4. Jonathan’s Mercutio
In the Stacks Pod bookclub episode for Romeo and Juliet, Traci Thomas and Farah Karim-Cooper talk about the “bromance” between Romeo and Mercutio and “the queer energy” in the play.
From the episode:
Do I think there’s queer energy in this play? Definitely. [,..] Between the two of them for sure. Mercutio feels very invested in Romeo and very possessive as well, and there is a sort of dynamic between them that is actually really interesting and beautiful at times. So yeah, I definitely think there’s queer energy there.
– Farah Karim-Cooper on The Stacks Podcast, Sep 299 December 2023
There’s definitely some queer energy between Jonathon and Thom. Candace points this out in a fight.
“Thom was Wall Street, a client from the club where Jonathon once worked. I said, Right. Like he doesn’t crush on you and expect something in return.
You think like that because you live in a market economy.”
– Chapter 1, page 12
The biggest reason to paint Thom as a Mercutio figure is his role in Jonathan’s exile. He’s a catalyst. Without his yacht, Jonathan wouldn’t have the (ironic) means to sail away from NYC, the grind, and capitalism. In the play, Mercutio is a catalyst for Romeo’s exile too. When he dies, Romeo rages and kills Tybalt. Then, he’s exiled for the crime.
- The term and idea of “citing the spark” comes from All The Black Girls Are Activists by EbonyJanice More. ↩︎
- I lightly edited the transcript, removing some filler words for clarity. ↩︎
Annotate With Sara 