The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 28.062 Friday, 10 February 2017
From: Richard A. Strier <
Date: February 9, 2017 at 5:41:26 PM EST
Subject: NEH SEMINAR ON KING LEAR
March 1 is the deadline for applying to the NEH Seminar for College Teachers on King Lear this summer (July 10-28) directed by Richard Strier at the University of Chicago. For application instructions and detailed information, see the website: https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/neh2017lear/
BRIEF DESCRIPTION: This seminar will attempt to see the play through many lenses: in formal terms; in its historical contexts; and in its life beyond Shakespeare’s time. The seminar will first be devoted to coming to terms with the material existence of the play, the two early texts of it. We will then read the sources for the play and look into some of its afterlife. We will read the version of the play by Nahum Tate (1681) and then jump to the last third of the 20th century and discuss two film versions of the play. We will next dive into criticism and scholarship: “Old” and “New” historicism (on religion); criticism that deals with social and political issues; “character” and psychoanalytic criticism; “New Critical” approaches; and current trends in literary criticism. The aim of the seminar is not to answer the textual, historical, and critical questions that it raises, but to show how compelling these questions are. Tenured, tenure-track, and full-time NON-tenure track instructors are welcome to apply.