ENGL 524

Fall 2014 Part of Term 1

Part of Term 1
Aug 25-Dec 10

Seminar in 17th C Literature

Credit: 4 hours.

May be repeated if topics vary. Prerequisite: A college course devoted entirely to an aspect of Renaissance studies or consent of instructor.

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ENGL 524 class schedule data for fall 2014
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	30191	Lecture-Discussion	G	3:00PM -4:50PM	W	English Building	Stevens, A	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/14-12/10/14 Section Title: Shakespeare & his Audiences Section Info: Topic Section G: Shakespeare and his Audiences We all know the role Shakespeare continues to occupy within the Western canon. In this graduate seminar, I would have us set aside Shakespeare?s formidable reputation as the ?greatest writer in the history of English literature? and instead concentrate on Shakespeare the actor and playwright who made his considerable living writing for the London professional theater from roughly 1580 to 1611. The city of London, Shakespeare?s fellow actors, the physical spaces of the Globe and the Blackfriars playhouses, and any number of material and cultural factors?props, music, special effects, audience expectations?shaped the plays Shakespeare wrote and consequently inform the printed play editions that we now read. Our study of Shakespearean ?original practices??the key theatrical conventions and staging conditions that existed in Shakespeare?s time?will allow us to see Shakespeare?s plays as living documents intended for performance. Emphases will include an attention to the plays in their earliest moment of composition, rehearsal, performance, publication, and reception, as well as to the production histories of Shakespeare?s plays. This focus on production history will take us from Shakespeare?s time up to the present moment: that is, many of Shakespeare?s plays have been in continuous production for 400 years, including recent popular film adaptations, and not just in the English-speaking West. What does this history of performance, adaptation, and revision tell us? Do the plays continue to offer us insight into the social world we ourselves inhabit? Do we find any of Shakespeare?s plays to be ?exhausted?? Together, we will read Shakespeare?s more canonical plays alongside some of his lesser-known or infrequently performed works. Although this list might be subject to some change, the sampling of plays will likely include The Taming of the Shrew; Titus Andronicus; Midsummer Night?s Dream; Othello; Macbeth; Measure for Measure; Cymbeline; and Middleton?s The Revenger?s Tragedy. Secondary readings will draw from relevant studies of early modern theater history; works of literary criticism that had an impact on theater practitioners; classics of Shakespeare criticism; and recent criticism illustrating important new directions within Shakespeare studies. Students will have the opportunity to tailor their final seminar paper (due in multiple stages) to their own research and theoretical interests, including the possibility for MFA candidates to submit original creative work as the final writing assignment; the class thus is geared toward specialists and non-specialists alike. Restriction(s): Restricted to English major(s) or minor(s). Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.