ENGL 680: Shakespeare
(Re)Produced
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Requirements | 633Syllabus| 633 Critical Readings | Course Descriptions and Syllabi
Professor Moira P. Baker
406 Young Hall
831-5352 (Office) 731-4104 (Home)
Office Hours: TR:
3:30-4:30; W: 5:30-6:30 and by appointment
Course Objectives,
Procedures, Policies and Required Texts:
Paying homage to the power of
Shakespeare's art, Virginia Woolf once wrote:
"If ever a human being got his work expressed completely, it was
Shakespeare. If ever a mind was incandescent,
unimpeded, [...] it was Shakespeare's mind." This course sets out to study
the dramatic art of that gifted and incandescent writer. But, unlike Woolf, we will not examine
Shakespeare simply as some unique genius, who transcended the social and
political concerns of his own day, arriving at a serene vision of truth to last
throughout the ages. Rather, we will
look at Shakespeare as an artist keenly interested in the momentous social,
economic, and political changes that characterized his own world as it moved
into the early modern period. In order
to understand how Shakespeare’s works have been continually (re)produced and
interpreted, we will compare short segments of filmed productions of the plays,
examine various modes of literary scholarhip about them, attend at least one
live performance of a play at the Blackfriars’ Theatre in Staunton, VA., and
stage our own (humble) (re)production of scenes from his plays. By studying how Shakespeare has been (re)produced
in the contemporary worlds of theatre, film and scholarship, we will examine
how Shakespeare’s works have significance, in Dr. Johnson’s words, “not for a
day but for all times.” We will consider
how the timelessness of Shakespeare's art--its continuing ability to speak to
new generations of readers--may, paradoxically, result from its very
imbeddedness in its own historical moment, its own culture, and the issues that
emerged during the early modern period.
Our contemporary world still grapples with the issues that catapulted
Shakespeare's world toward the threshold of the modern period--issues
concerning gender and sexuality, social class and economic change, authority
and rebellion, tyranny and justice, geopolitical power and the domination of
racialized "others." This course draws upon the latest developments
in Shakespearean scholarship and criticism and a variety of filmed versions of the
plays to illustrate the wide range of ways that Shakespeare's texts may be
read, enjoyed, and taught—in short (re)produced-- today.
Procedures:
We will conduct this class as
a graduate-level seminar in which each of you will be involved in the design
and instruction of the course. I have
selected seven plays and scholarly articles about each of them to begin our
work in the course (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The
Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, Measure for Measure, Othello,
The Tempest). Together you will
select an additional six plays, which we will read and discuss in the
course. In addition, each of you will
engage in a research project about one play, culminating in a bibliographic
essay about the scholarship on that play.
You will present your research in a report to the class about the
scholarship on that play on the night that we discuss it. Culminating your work in the course, you
will either produce a scholarly essay on one or more plays OR participate in a
staging and (re)production of scenes from one or more of the plays. We will use writing, research and discussion
throughout the course to deepen our enjoyment of Shakespeare's dramatic art and
to develop our skills as readers of Shakespearean scholarship and as producers
of our own scholarship on the plays. We
will view various short video clips of scenes from the plays and compare
(re)productions to sharpen up our awareness of how each (re)production is
actually an interpretation. We will
attend a live performance of one play—since that’s what they were written
for. And, finally, we will try our hand
at our own performance to (re)produce scenes from Shakespeare for our own
world. The success of the course
depends upon how fully each of us invests ourselves in the role of
teacher/learner. I extend my
appreciation to you in advance for accepting your role as teacher/learner in
this course.
Course Policies:
Class Attendance and
Participation:
Regular
attendance and thoughtful participation in class discussion are essential not
only to your individual performance, but also to the success of this
course. Our work together relies on
collaboration in every phase of the course so that we might form an
intellectual community whose insights and power surpass those of any one of us
working on our own. We are all subjects
who share the responsibilities of teaching and learning in this class. Each of us has a responsibility to the group
and to the learning that goes on in class.
Therefore,
more than 1 absence will affect the final grade adversely; more than 3 absences
will result in automatic failure of the course.
Late Work and Requests
for Extensions:
I do
not accept late work. In the event of
extreme circumstances, such
as sickness, family tragedy, or an emergency, I can be reasonable about deadlines
and the possibility of extensions. But
you must request an extension on your work before the due date. I
may grant an extension provided you have a legitimate reason. You can contact me via e-mail or phone. I will not grant any extensions of deadlines
if you do not request one before the due date.
Plagiarism:
The University Affairs Council has asked all faculty to include the following statement in our course policies:
"By
accepting admission to Radford University, each student makes a commitment to
understand, support, and abide by the University Honor Code without compromise
or exception. Violations of academic
integrity will not be tolerated. This
class will be conducted in strict observance of the Honor Code. Please refer to your Student Handbook for
details."
Plagiarism--including
the use of work submitted to another course without the consent of both
instructors, the use of work by another person, or the use of someone else's
words, ideas, or arrangement of ideas without giving proper reference to the
author--is a serious violation of the Honor Code. This applies to all electronic sources found on the Worldwide Web
or on other on-line databases such as those available through McConnell Library. Please see the section on plagiarism in your
Student Handbook. Be especially
careful, as you complete your scholarly essay, that you do not use the ideas of
other critics without giving them credit even if you do not use direct
quotations. You must give credit to a
critic when you paraphrase his or her ideas.
Required Texts:
Baker,
Moira, ed. Readings in Shakespearean
Criticism. Available in Web CT course materials.
MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.
Ed. Joseph Gibaldi. New
York: MLA, 1998. Strongly Recommended
Shakespeare,
William. The Complete Works of
Shakespeare. Ed. David
Bevington. New York: Longman, 2001. Or some other authoritative, scholarly edition of the Complete
Works.
Home Page | 633 Requirements | 633Syllabus | 633
Critical Readings | Course
Descriptions and Syllabi