We will read Shakespeare's plays as part of the historically specific cultural context in which they were produced and should be read. The particular aspects of culture selected for study (see below) were chosen not only because they are important in themselves also because compelling modern critical studies have been written about them. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1599) will provide a common text for the class, but in addition each member of the seminar will be responsible for choosing three or four other Shakespearean plays to report on for the semester, each week considering these same plays, along with Twelfth Night in light of that week's cultural focus.
1/16 FIRST WEEK: Introduction
1/23 SECOND WEEK: Shakespeare's Audience
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night TEXT
Anthony Arlidge, Shakespeare and the Prince of Love
(2000): 1-96,112-121, 126-164 TEXT
Bruce Smith, ed. Twelfth Night. Texts and Contexts:
1-10, 117-128 TEXT
Andrew Gurr, Playgoing in Shakespeare's England
1/30 THIRD WEEK: Seasonal Cycles and Rituals
John Brand, Observations on the Antiquities of Great Britain
(ed. Ellis 1908)
Susan Brigden, London and the Reformation (1989), "The
Catholic Community," 1-43
Ronald Hutton, The Rise and Fall of Merry England, Introduction,
Chapter One, pp 111-114, 151-end,
153-154, 198-199, Chapter Four
Ian Archer, "John Stow's Survey of London," The
Theatrical City. Culture, Theatre and Politics in London,
ed. David L.
Smith, Richard Strier and David Bevington (Cambridge, 1995)
Marion B. Smith, Dualities in Shakespeare (1966), "Twelfth
Night in Twelfth Night"
2/6 FOURTH WEEK: Life Cycles and Rituals
David Cressy, Birth, Marriage & Death. Ritual, Religion
and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart
England (Oxford,1997) Introduction 1-14, Death 379-395, Courtship
233-284, Marriage 285-349 TEXT
Mary Abbot, Life Cycles in England (1996), "Householders,"
111-126
2/13 FIFTH WEEK: Sexualities and Gender
Smith, TN, "Sexuality": 183-194 (Sonnet 135;
Wright, Passions); 201-218 (Ovid, Donne); 225-236
(Beaumont); 265-278 (Hic Mulier, Haec-Vir; boy actors)
Selections from Rubinstein, Dictionary of Shakespeare's Sexual
Puns, and Williams, Glossary of
Shakespeare's Sexual Language
Gail Paster, "Leaky Vessels," The Body Embarrassed
(1993), 23-51
Obscene poems from manuscript collections
Stevie Davis, Shakespeare "Twelfth Night" (1993):
113-135
2/20 SIXTH WEEK: Aristocracy, Gentry, and the Country House
Mark Girouard, Life in the English Country House, 1-118
TEXT
Cynthia Herrup, A House in Gross Disorder TEXT
2/27 SEVENTH WEEK: Aristocracy, Gentry and Civility
Selections from Castiglione, The Courtier, Wilson, Arte
of Rhetorique, and Puttenham, Arte of Poesie, in
Gerald Pinciss & Roger Lockyer, Shakespeare's World
Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth: Civility and
Science in 17thC England, xxv-xxxvi; 3-125 TEXT
3/6 SPRING BREAK
3/13 EIGHTH WEEK: Masters and Servants I
Thomas Whythorne, Autobiography (1576)
Keith Wrightson, "'Sorts of People' in Tudor and Stuart
England" (1994)
Elizabeth Heale, "Songs, Sonnets and Autobiography: Self-Representation
in 16C Verse Miscellanies"
3/20 NINTH WEEK: Masters and Servants II
Michael Neill, "Servant Obedience and Master Sins: Shakespeare
and the Bonds of Service" (1997)
Mary Ellen Lamb, "Tracing a Heterosexual Erotics of Service
in TN and Thomas Whythorne. . ." (1998)
3/27 TENTH WEEK: Literary and Dramatic Contexts
Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors (1592? 1594?) TEXT (ANY
EDITION)
__________, Two Gentlemen Of Verona (1592? TEXT
(ANY EDITION)
Barnabe Riche, "Of Apolonius and Scilla"
The Academy of the Thunderstruck in Siena, "Prologue"
to Gl'Ingannati, tr. Bullough
4/3 ELEVETH WEEK: Research
4/ 10 TWELFTH WEEK: Oral Presentation of Topic and Sources
4/17-24 THIRTEEN-FIFTEENTH WEEKS: Research and Conferences
Fondren Library 608
Tuesday 1-2 OR CALL: X2467 OR (713)-218-6821
skura@rice.edu