ENGL 524

Fall 2015 All Classes

All Classes

Seminar in 17th C Literature

SHOW FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE

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 2015
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	30191	Lecture-Discussion	G	3:00PM -4:50PM	W	113 English Building	Newcomb, L	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/24/15-12/09/15 Section Title: Materiality & Early Mod Brit Section Info: Topic Section G: Materiality and Early Modern British Books Historians of the book and of reading repeatedly invoke ?materiality? as a maker of meaning in early modern studies. What exactly is meant by ?material,? and what does it exclude? Why and how does this material turn preoccupy an increasingly digital scholarly practice? Can analyzing the materiality of printed books access consumers as well as producers? Why was printed matter disturbing in early modern Britain, and why is the value of some items still contested? This seminar assesses the current state of book history in early modern studies, putting special pressure on how materiality is deployed and (sometimes) theorized in claims about early modern texts and the practices of authorship, publication, printing, book-buying, reading, and inscription. This seminar is appropriate for graduate students specializing in a wide range of historical periods, national literatures, and disciplines. Together, we?ll explore the distinctive material conditions of the hand press era, and also claims for materiality that reach across period and national boundaries. Our readings will include some of the founding statements in the fields of book and reading history, and representative critical work that engages early modern texts both well-known (Philip Sidney, Mary Wroth, William Shakespeare, Margaret Cavendish) and little-read (crime pamphlets, broadside ballads). Lots of our work will be hands-on, in the Rare Book Library and with pathbreaking digital surrogates, and class writings too will aim for practical impact: short projects exploring how print historical methods can inform interpretation and teaching of familiar texts, or offer access to unfamiliar archives; and individual research projects (ultimately presented in a miniconference and/or virtual exhibit). After an initial survey of theoretical definitions of materiality, we?ll look at several clusters of texts produced from about 1550 to 1660, especially in genres well-represented in our rare-book collections, to test what materiality may mean and may uncover: The Reformation and the threat of popular literacy; Prose romance and the gendering of literacy; Playbooks and the transfer of embodied performance to printed page; Dissent and censorship; Material studies, early modern print objects, and the environment; Illustrations, branding, and alterity Broadside ballads, appropriation, and print proliferation Restriction(s): Restricted to English major(s) or minor(s). Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.