Shakespeare:
Sources and Contexts

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS.

• Plautus, The Menaechmus Twins & Two Other Plays, ed. and trans. Lionel Casson (Norton, 1971), ISBN 0393006026,
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, trans. Rolfe Humphries (Indiana UP, 1955), ISBN 0253200016,
• Seneca, Four Tragedies and Octavia, ed. and trans. E. F. Watling (Penguin, 1966), ISBN 0140441743,
• Plutarch, Makers of Rome:  Nine Lives by Plutarch, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert (Penguin, 1965), ISBN 0140441581,
• John Gassner, ed., Medieval and Tudor Drama (Applause, 2000), ISBN 0936839848,
• David M. Bevington, et al., eds., English Renaissance Drama (Norton, 2002), ISBN 0393976556, and
• various documents and hyperlinks in SOCS under “Resources.”

RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOK.

• The Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 1997), ISBN 0395754909.

RECOMMENDED SHAKESPEARE:  I am assuming that you have seen, watched, or read at least a few of the major Shakespeare plays – especially A Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Hamlet, Merchant of Venice, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard II, and Julius Caesar.  If you have never read or seen these plays, I strongly recommend that you read, see, or watch them before (or in the early stages of) this class.  If you can only read or see four of these plays for class, read or see Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Merchant of Venice, and Antony and Cleopatra.

COURSE DESCRIPTION.  The focus of this section of ENGL 612 will be the reconstruction of the literary “horizon of expectations” for Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies at the time of their first performance.  The course will not be a course in Shakespeare per se but rather a course in the literary, dramatic, and cultural texts that shaped the literary expectations, perceptions, and tastes of Shakespeare and his audience.  We will reconstruct what an Elizabethan audience might have expected when it went to the theater to see a play – reconstructing Elizabethan expectations “from a pre‑understanding of the genre, from the form and themes of already familiar works, and from the opposition between poetic [or, in this case, dramatic] and practical language” (Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, p. 22).

GOALS.  By the end of the course, I want you to

1. demonstrate more familiarity with a significant body of texts within – and on the margins of – a variety of literary traditions (i.e., the dramatic traditions of classical Rome, medieval England, and Elizabethan England);
2. read, analyze, and synthesize literary texts and traditions from a critical, theoretical, multinational, and interdisciplinary perspective;
3. engage in the practice of comparative literary analysis by writing about literary texts and traditions from within a comparative framework and drawing conclusions about the significance of literary and cultural intersections and divergences/differences;
4. pursue a sustained investigation of the idea of literature itself by examining what literature is and how it is culturally, politically, philosophically and/or sociologically defined and influenced, and by exploring, from a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective, how and why literary texts are categorized (in terms of traditions, periods, genres and movements);
5. demonstrate sensitivity to the concrete historicity and cultural specificity of texts and to the development of literary traditions, cultural values, modes of thought, and uses of language over time and across national boundaries;
6. demonstrate facility with critical practices in research and writing in the field of English (at an appropriate M.A. level), and
7. develop an enhanced instructional repertoire for secondary English teaching and/or develop an enhanced familiarity with foundational literary texts as preparation for further study in a Ph.D. program.

REQUIREMENTS.  For this course, you must complete the following requirements:

1. participation in a writing group outside of class (worth 5% of your final grade),
2. 7 two-page response papers (altogether worth 20% of your final grade), and
3. 2 conference-length papers of 8-10 pages each (not including notes and bibliography), each on a topic of the student’s choice, okayed by the instructor, with appropriate research (the first worth 35% and the second worth 40% of your final grade).

Your two conference-length papers are an opportunity for you to show me what you’ve learned in class, applying what you’ve learned in a new context.  In each of your conference-length papers, you need to argue a clear, specific, original thesis, and you need to do so with professionalism appropriate to the discipline of English.  I expect you to enter into the critical conversation going on in scholarly articles and books on your topic, saying something worth saying while responding to what others have said before you.  Needless to say, professionalism in terms of standard punctuation, spelling, and grammar is also a must.

Your writing groups should form and begin meeting by the second or third week of class.  The groups will brainstorm ideas for your conference-length paper topics, and later, your group’s members will serve as peer reviewers of your conference-length paper drafts.  The groups should meet (in person or, if that’s not always possible, electronically) at least five times during the semester (although I encourage groups to meet even more often than that).  At least five times, each group should submit a brief report (via email to me) of what the group has been doing.  If a group would like me to come to one (or more) of its meetings to assist and give feedback on your work, I will graciously accept any invitations proffered.

In the course of the term, you are required to write 7 short, informal response papers (about 2 pages each) on the critical readings assigned for class.  You may choose on which days you want to submit a response paper, as long as by the end of the semester you have submitted 7 response papers.  I ask you to type your response papers (so that they are easier for me to read), but they need not be a perfect, polished product.  Rather, response papers should be just what their name says – a response.  You are to summarize the main point of the critical reading(s) assigned for the day and respond to that main point in a critical but reflective fashion.  Don’t worry about typos or comma splices or organization.  Be as specific and focused as you can, getting down as much as you can, as quickly as you can.  Treat response papers more like a journal entry than like a formal paper.  I want an exploration – as detailed and specific as possible – of the critical essay assigned for the day.  You may not submit more than one response paper on a single day, nor may you submit a response paper for a day that you are absent from class – absolutely no exceptions.  I recommend that you use your response papers as a safe place to try out potential ideas for your conference-length papers.

ATTENDANCE.  Regular attendance is a virtual necessity for successful completion of this class.  Class discussion constitutes important, useful preparation for your graded work, and your participation in that discussion is itself a contributing factor in your final grade.  If you miss a class, you will essentially lose out on an opportunity to improve your participation grade as well as on that class’s contribution to your preparation for other assignments, since it is never really possible to reproduce or recapture the dynamics and flow of information for a missed class meeting (even if you get notes from someone).  If, however, you positively must miss a class, I expect you to find out what you missed and to come fully prepared – without excuses – to the next class meeting.  And please, don’t ask, “Did I miss anything?”  Check out Tom Wayman’s poem about that question.

OFFICE HOURS.  My office is Bliss 216, and my office hours are 2:00-4:00 p.m. on TR.  If you cannot see me during these office hours, feel free as needed to call my office (771-2106) or to talk to me before or after class to arrange an appointment at another time.  You may also contact me by email (gsteinbe@tcnj.edu), or you may leave a message for me in my box at the English department offices in Bliss 124.  Email is generally the fastest way to contact me in an emergency.

EMAIL.  I may, on occasion, want to e-mail everyone in class.  I generally only have access to your TCNJ e-mail addresses, however.  As a result, if you regularly use an e-mail address other than your TCNJ address, I recommend that you have mail from your TCNJ address forwarded to the address you use more regularly.  That way, if I e-mail your TCNJ address, my message will be forwarded to your other address automatically.  To forward mail from your TCNJ address, go to http://www.tcnj.edu/~helpdesk/Zimbra.htm and click “Forward Email.”  Follow the directions there to set up mail forwarding.

If you would like to send an e-mail message to one or more of your classmates, you can do so through SOCS.  To access SOCS, go to http://socs.tcnj.edu and, after you have logged in with your TCNJ e-mail username and password, choose this class from the list of your courses this semester.  Then, when our course page comes up, click the “Email” button.  From there, you can select individual e-mail addresses or the entire class and send a message to the address(es) you’ve selected.

Accommodations.  The College of New Jersey prohibits discrimination against any student on the basis of physical or mental disability or perceived disability.  The College will also provide reasonable and appropriate accommodations to enable students with disabilities to participate in the life of the campus community.  Individuals with disabilities are responsible for reporting and supplying documentation verifying their disability, and requests for accommodations must be initiated through the Office of Differing Abilities Services (Eickhoff Hall 159).  If you require special assistance, I will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your needs and to create an environment where your special abilities will be respected.

COURSE SCHEDULE.  This schedule is subject to revision at the discretion of the professor.  Changes in the schedule after the first couple weeks of classes will be shown in red.  Reading assignments are the minimum that you should read; for texts with only excerpts assigned (e.g., Jauss and Ovid), I encourage you to read more than the assigned minimum if possible.

Dates	Assignments
R Aug 27	Introductions Critical Reading:  Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, Chapter 1 (available under “Resources” in SOCS), pp. 18-45, and Jean Howard, “Shakespeare, Geography, and the Work of Genre on the Early Modern Stage,” Modern Language Quarterly 64.3 (September 2003): 299-322 (available through Project Muse)
R Sep 3	Cycle Plays of Shakespeare’s Youth:  The Murder of Abel, Noah and His Sons, the Brome Abraham and Isaac, and The Second Shepherds’ Play (in Medieval and Tudor Drama) Critical Reading:  Lisa J. Kiser, “‘Mak’s Heirs’: Sheep and Humans in the Pastoral Ecology of the Towneley First and Second Shepherds’ Plays,” JEGP 108 (2009), 336-359 (availabe through Project Muse)
R Sep 10	Plautus as Model of Comedy:  Plautus, The Menaechmus Twins (elsewhere known as The Menaechmi) and Pseudolus Critical Reading:  Richard F. Hardin, “Encountering Plautus in the Renaissance:  A Humanist Debate on Comedy,” Renaissance Quarterly 60 (2007): 789–818 (availabe through Project Muse)
R Sep 17	Ovid on Love:  Ovid, Metamorphoses, Books I, IV, VI, X-XI, and XV Critical Reading:  Heather James, “Ovid and the Question of Politics in Early Modern England,” ELH 70 (2003), 343-373 (availabe through Project Muse)
R Sep 24	Seneca as Model of Tragedy:  Seneca, Thyestes and Phaedra Critical Reading:  Gary Meltzer, “Dark Wit and Black Humor in Seneca’s Thyestes,” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-    ), Vol. 118 (1988), pp. 309-330 (available through JSTOR)
R Oct 1	Comedy in the 1550s:  Nicholas Udall, Ralph Roister Doister (in Medieval and Tudor Drama) Critical Reading:  Elizabeth Hanson, “There’s Meat and Money Too: Rich Widows and Allegories of Wealth in Jacobean City Comedy,” ELH 72:1 (2005), pp. 209-38 (available through Project Muse)
R Oct 8	Tragedy in the 1560s:  Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, Gorboduc (in Medieval and Tudor Drama), and Thomas Preston, Cambyses, King of Persia (available under “Resources” in SOCS) Critical Reading:  Jacqueline Vanhoutte, “Community, Authority, and the Motherland in Sackville and Norton's Gorboduc,” SEL 40.2 (Spring 2000): pp. 227-239 (availabe through Project Muse or JSTOR)
R Oct 15	The 1580s:  John Lyly, Endymion, and Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (both in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  Leah Scragg “The Victim of Fashion? Rereading the Biography of John Lyly,” Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 19 (2006), pp. 210-26 (available through EBSCOhost), and Alan C. Dessen, “Robert Greene and the Theatrical Vocabulary of the Early 1590s,” in Writing Robert Greene, ed. Kirk Melnikoff and Edward Gieskes (Burlington:  Ashgate, 2008), pp. 25-37 (available in SOCS)
R Oct 22	The 1580s (continued):  Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy, and Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great, Part I (both in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  William N. West, “‘But this will be a mere confusion’:  Real and Represented Confusions on the Elizabethan Stage,” Theatre Journal 60 (2008): 217–233, and Richard Wilson, “Visible Bullets:  Tamburlaine the Great and Ivan the Terrible,” ELH 62.1 (1995): 47-68 (both available through Project Muse)
R Oct 29	More Marlowe:  Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta and Edward II (both in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  Joan Parks, “History, Tragedy, and Truth in Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II,” SEL 39.2 (1999): 275-290, and Arata Ide, “The Jew of Malta and the Diabolic Power of Theatrics in the 1580s,” SEL 46.2 (Spring 2006): 257–279 (both available through Project Muse)
M Nov 2	FIRST CONFERENCE-LENGTH PAPER DUE in the dropbox of SOCS
R Nov 5	The 1590s:  Arden of Faversham and Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday (both in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr., “‘Arden Lay Murdered in that Plot of Ground’: Surveying, Land, and Arden of Faversham,” ELH 61.2 (Summer, 1994): 231-252 (available through JSTOR), and Brian Walsh, “Performing Historicity in Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday,” SEL 46.2 (Spring 2006): 323-348 (available through Project Muse)
R Nov 12	Cutting-Edge Comedy:  Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, and Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair (both in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  Dana Aspinall, “The Role of Folk Humor in Seventeenth-Century Receptions of Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle,” Philological Quarterly 76.2 (Spring 1997): 169-191 (available through Literature Resource Center), and Lori Schroeder Haslem, “'Troubled with the Mother': Longings, Purgings, and the Maternal Body in Bartholomew Fair and The Duchess of Malfi,” Modern Philology 92.4 (May, 1995): 438-459 (available through JSTOR)
R Nov 19	A Cutting-Edge Tragedy and Its Source:  “The Duchesse of Malfi” from The Palace of Pleasure (available under “Resources” in SOCS) and John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (in English Renaissance Drama) Critical Reading:  Albert H. Tricomi, “Historicizing the Imagery of the Demonic in The Duchess of Malfi,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34.2 (Spring 2004): 345-372 (available through Project Muse)
R Nov 26	NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
R Dec 3	Shakespearean Sources (for Romeo and Juliet and Merchant of Venice):  “Romeo and Iulietta” from The Palace of Pleasure and Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecorone, “The Pound of Flesh” (both available under “Resources” in SOCS) Critical Reading:  Lorna Hutson, “Fortunate Travelers: Reading for the Plot in Sixteenth-Century England,” Representations 41 (Winter, 1993): 83-103 (available through JSTOR)
R Dec 10	Another Shakespearean Source (for Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra):  Plutarch, “Brutus” and “Mark Antony” Critical Reading:  Gary B. Miles, “How Roman Are Shakespeare's 'Romans'?” Shakespeare Quarterly 40.3 (Autumn, 1989): 257-283 (available through JSTOR)
M Dec 14	FINAL CONFERENCE-LENGTH PAPER DUE in the dropbox of SOCS

Click here to go to my home page.