April
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.198 Tuesday, 22 April 2014
From: Annalisa Castaldo <
Date: April 21, 2014 at 3:36:14 PM EDT
Subject: MAPACA CFP
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association Conference 2014
Call for Papers MAPACA 2014
November 6-8, 2014
Baltimore, MD
Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Conference
The wealth of material found in the Middle Ages and Renaissance continues to attract modern audiences with new creative works in areas such as fiction, film, and computer games, which make use of medieval and/or early modern themes, characters, or plots. This is a call for papers or panels dealing with any aspect of medieval or Renaissance representation in popular culture. In particular, we would be interested in papers focusing on themes related to the notion of an anniversary, as this conference marks MAPACA’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Additional topics for this area include, but are not limited to the following:
-Modern portrayals of any aspect of Arthurian legends or Shakespeare
-Modern versions or adaptations of any other Medieval or Renaissance writer
-Modern investigations of historical figures such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Richards, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scotts
-Teaching medieval and Renaissance texts to modern students
-Medieval or Renaissance links to fantasy fiction, gaming, comics, video games, etc.
-Medieval or Renaissance Dramas
-The Middle Ages or Renaissance on the Internet
-Renaissance fairs
Panel and Workshop proposals are also welcome.
Submit a 250-word proposal including A/V requests along with a CV or brief bio by June 30, 2014to our online submissions form at www.mapaca.net
For further information, please contact:
Diana Vecchio
and
Mary Behrman
Co-Chairs Beowulf to Shakespeare
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.197 Monday, 21 April 2014
[1] From: Ian Steere <
Date: April 19, 2014 at 4:58:05 AM EDT
Subject: The Sonnets
[2] From: John Drakakis <
Date: April 20, 2014 at 12:42:44 PM EDT
Subject: RE: SHAKSPER: The Sonnets
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ian Steere <
Date: April 19, 2014 at 4:58:05 AM EDT
Subject: The Sonnets
Julia Crockett says that there is no reason to believe the Sonnets are autobiographical.
Will she now identify the errors of fact or application in the following argument—already aired in this thread, but so far not addressed? I imagine that she will agree with Step 1, at least - in which case we may also subsequently explore how this impacts on her interpretation of the Sonnets and all of the unusual circumstances of their original publication (referred to in Step 7).
1. The Sonnets may be interpreted in many different ways. In the absence of his direct guidance, we need strong alternative evidence before we may reasonably infer any of the author’s intentions.
.
2. Given their style and the variety of subject matter, it is difficult (some have suggested impossible) to establish a coherent narrative sequence from the poems.
3. However, independent evidence of Shakespeare’s cultivation of a young, effeminate-looking patron, Henry Wriothesley, does present at least one credible lead: to the scenario that the poems portray the circumstances of, and developments in, their relationship—privately expressed.
4. With this perspective, and despite the obstacle noted at 2 above, a coherent narrative sequence emerges with minimal further assumption or strain of interpretation. This strengthens the promise of the lead (described in 3).
5. But the emergent story contains some extraordinary content. This feature works for or against the hypothesis, dependent on the availability of independent evidence. If uncorroborated, the bizarreness of the suggested developments will undermine the credibility of the scenario. Otherwise, it will be strengthened in direct proportion to the rarity of the story portrayed.
6. The story at 4 is corroborated by objective, independent evidence associated with Shakespeare and/or Wriothesley. It is not just rare: it is unique. There are no inconsistencies. The scenario at 3 is therefore upgraded from promising lead to probable reality (for more see Biography).
7. The biography thus inferred also provides elegant solutions to a number of otherwise unresolved, knotty problems associated with the Sonnets in their original printing, for example: the strange foreword included by their publisher (for more see A3 at Truths).
8. Consequently, we have the strong alternative evidence sought in 1. This presents a high probability that the Sonnets represent private correspondence from Shakespeare to Wriothesley, subsequently published without their consent.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Drakakis <
Date: April 20, 2014 at 12:42:44 PM EDT
Subject: RE: SHAKSPER: The Sonnets
Sorry Ian,
You are confusing ‘probability’ and ‘possibility’. Of course, we can speculate, but let me put the issues rather differently. If you see some of the later sonnets in the sequence as evidence that Shakespeare had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, as some biographers do (because he writes forcefully about the topic), what would the romantically inclined critics think of extending that perception to his/her own autobiography? The question of the authenticity of ‘experience’ is not quite as simple as you seem to suppose. We need to do much more detailed ethnographical work before we can speculate intelligently about what ‘life’ in Elizabethan and Jacobean England might have been like, or before we can speculate about those parts of the Shakespeare life for which there is no evidence. What we cannot do is import romantic and post romantic notions of personality and creativity into the argument and claim that they have their origin in Shakespeare’s autobiography as it is claimed to ‘appear’ in his fictions. I am afraid that the either/or argument you entertain falls very far short of any ‘truth’.
Cheers
John D
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.196 Monday, 21 April 2014
From: Hardy M. Cook <
Date: Monday, April 21, 2014
Subject: Subscriber Update
Dear SHAKSPER Subscribers:
I am in the process of doing some long-term planning and thought I would take a moment to inform everyone of the current subscriber data.
Over the weekend, we reached 200 subscribers (Likes) on the SHAKSPER Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/shaksper>. For variety, every few weeks I change the profile picture.
Currently, there are 1115 subscribers to the e-mail Newsletter with a more than 30% average postings being read.
Don’t forget that there is a wealth of information available at the SHAKSPER web site under the Scholarly Resources tab <http://shaksper.net/scholarly-resources>:
- A Selected Guide to Shakespeare on the Internet
- The SBReviews: SHAKSPER Book Reviews
- SHAKSPER Roundtable Discussions
- Papers by SHAKSPER Members Seeking Critical Advice
- Library of Essays
- SHAKSPER Reference Files
- Cook's Tours
- Pedagogy: Teaching Resources
- Shakespeare Plays and Festivals
Thanks for everyone’s support during our first 25 years,
Hardy
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.195 Friday, 18 April 2014
From: Julia Crockett <
Date: April 17, 2014 at 6:33:21 PM EDT
Subject: Sonnets
Sonnets
‘Not that I have a right to speak/Not that I have a right to lie.’ I just wanted to add I so agree with John Drakakis. There is no reason to believe the Sonnets are autobiographical. If you put Shakespeare’s Sonnets in the context of, say, for example Spenser’s, then you can see the allegorical conceits in both forms. The other thing about tying Shakespeare to history/autobiography (new historicism at a later date) is that you can largely, conveniently overlook his dramatic philosophy. Cheers
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 25.194 Friday, 18 April 2014
From: Lois Leveen <
Date: April 17, 2014 at 2:18:18 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Online Course
William Junker <
>As someone who holds a BA from the University of Dallas, I
>take exception to Appelbaum’s comment. While it is true that
>incoming students are issued colt revolvers during orientation
>week, the donning of cowboy hats is highly regulated.
While I was in Turku, Finland, to speak at the Framing Premodern Desires Conference earlier this month, I learned that graduating doctoral students are indeed given hats, or rather expected to purchase them for rather extravagant sums (and they seem more suited to leprechauns than scholars). But even better: they get SWORDS! Can you imagine how faculty meetings would go if your colleagues were all issued departmental swords?
https://www.jyu.fi/en/academic-events/degrees-ceremony/instruct/doctoral-hats-and-sword
-Lois Leveen