“New Elizabethans 1953-2013: Nation, Culture, and Modern Identity” Conference Next Month

13-15 June 2013

Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London

Conference organiser: Dr Irene Morra (Cardiff University)

Coinciding with the 60-year anniversary of the Coronation, this conference will explore the ways in which the ideal of a new (or second) Elizabethan age has been variously defined, promoted, and challenged in Britain and the Commonwealth. Following closely after the London Olympics and Jubilee celebrations, it will also offer a fitting opportunity to explore the ways in which these values continue to present themselves in contemporary definitions of national identity, culture, and character.

In the years surrounding the Coronation of Elizabeth II, British political and cultural life was suffused with a language that both prophesized and idealized the potential for a new Elizabethan era. The self-styled new Elizabethans identified an innate national character in the accomplishments of a vanished age. This age was apparently manifest in ‘Shakespearean’ music, theatre, and poetry — and characterized by imperial expansion and exploration, a clear sense of social hierarchy, a fierce and heroic spirit of patriotic individualism, and the brave resistance of a mighty little people to larger invading forces.

Such constructions inevitably responded to the anxieties and aspirations of a post-war, post-imperial Britain. The new Elizabethans characteristically asserted the latent, continuous presence of the essential spirit of an earlier era, invoking its legacy for the forging of a new, contemporary nation. It is the aim of this conference to explore the informing values and assumptions behind such constructions, to investigate their manifestation in various contexts and forms, and to expose the ways in which they continue to be promoted in contemporary social, cultural, and political definitions of modern identity in relation to Britain and the Commonwealth. To that end, the event will be organized around two complementary themes: ‘Origins and the New Elizabethan Moment’ and ‘Cultural and Social Legacies: Staging a New Elizabethan Era.’

Registration

Full Conference: Standard £70
Full Conference: Speakers/Students/Concessions £50
One-day rate: Standard £35
One-day rate: Speakers/Students/Concessions £25

EDWARD BOND LECTURE AND RECEPTION ONLY (6pm, Thurs 13 June) £5

http://www.ies.sas.ac.uk/events/ies-conferences/NewElizabethans

Download the poster in pdf: NewElizabethansPoster

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Shakespeare and Theory: Special Issue I (Published in English Studies)

Shakespeare and Theory: Special Issue I

Guest Editors: François-Xavier Gleyzon and Johann Gregory

The latest issue of English Studies (a Taylor and Francis  journal) is a special issue on Shakespeare and Theory.

Contents

(Vol. 94.3)

Thinking through Shakespeare: An Introduction to Shakespeare and Theory

Johann Gregory and François-Xavier Gleyzon

Shakespeare by Design: A Flight of Concepts

Julia Reinhard Lupton and C.J. Gordon (University of California)

Of Cause

Madhavi Menon (American University)

“After the Takeover”: Shakespeare, Lacan, Žižek and the Interpassive Subject

Étienne Poulard (Cardiff University)

Wordplay in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Accusation of Derrida’s “Logical Phallusies”

Johann Gregory (Cardiff University)

Storm at Sea: The Tempest, Cultural Materialism and the Early Modern Political Aesthetic

Christopher Pye (Williams College)

A second issue on Shakespeare and Theory, also guest edited by François-Xavier Gleyzon and Johann Gregory, will be published in the November issue of the same journal volume. This issue will include contributions from Arthur Bradley (Lancaster University), Drew Daniel (Johns Hopkins University), François-Xavier Gleyzon (University of Central Florida), Katherine Schaap Williams (Rutgers University) and Richard Wilson (Kingston University)

Visit the journal website here.

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CFP (Journal): Personification: Embodying Meaning and Emotion Personification

Reblogged from Early English Drama & Performance :

"Intersections is a peer-reviewed series on interdisciplinary topics in early modern studies. Each volume focuses on a single theme and consists of essays that explore new perspectives on the subject of study. The series aims to open up new areas of research on early modern culture and to address issues of interest to a wide range of disciplines. More information on Intersections: …

Read more… 705 more words

Postgraduate research studentship in Early Modern literature and culture

Following the success of the AHRC-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award collaboration with the National Maritime Museum (Royal Museums Greenwich), the University of Roehampton is pleased to announce a fully-funded 3-year postgraduate research studentship to start on 1 October 2013. The studentship will be a full bursary including Home/EU fees plus a Research Council level stipend for three years’ full-time doctoral study. The bursaries will be subject to annual review of student progress. The bursary rate for 2012-13 is currently £15,590. In addition a contribution towards project costs will be made available, with a minimum of £300 allocated.

[...]

The Department is looking for a candidate of the highest quality, capable of submitting a Ph.D. thesis within 3 years. Applicants should have completed an MA degree in a relevant subject prior to the start of the studentship and may be required to complete additional research methods training in their first year of study. Applicants should also be able to demonstrate strong research capabilities and fluency in spoken and written English.

Find out more here.

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Lecturer in Drama – Teaching and Scholarship

Cardiff Metropolitan University -Cardiff School of Education

(0.6 FTE)

Post No: HR1705

Salary: £36,298 – £40,834 pa pro rata

Hours: 22.2 hours per week

Tenure: Permanent

Location: Cyncoed

The Department of Humanities in the Cardiff School of Education is a vibrant and growing part of the provision at Cardiff Metropolitan University. It seeks to maintain excellent levels of student satisfaction through an approach that combines a warm, pastoral care with research-informed teaching. Graduates are ‘work’ ready through our emphasis on employability skills and Graduate Attributes that develop through a contemporary and stimulating curriculum that blends theory and practice. This appointment builds on the School’s rich tradition of Drama and Education.

The successful post-holder will be responsible for teaching and assessing undergraduate students on the Educational Studies and Drama, and English and Drama degrees. The post-holder will be responsible for delivery of practical and theoretical modules, including Theatre Practitioners, Other Theatres, Educational Observation Placement and undergraduate dissertation supervision.

It is essential that the post-holder contributes to the rich extra and co-curricular experience of students. In the field of Drama this will be achieved through a series of productions and performances to augment academic provision.

Closing Date: 9^th May 2013

Find out more here.

‘[Theatre], thy name is woman’: Theatrical Value and Power in Shakespeare

Johann Gregory (Cardiff University) will be giving a paper entitled “‘[Theatre], thy name is woman’: Theatrical Value and Power in Shakespeare” at the Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft Annual Conference, Munich, 26 – 28 April 2013.

Find out more about the conference here.

“The Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft (German Shakespeare Society) was founded in 1864. It is one of the oldest literary associations in Europe, if not the world, and has about 2,000 members. It promotes the investigation with William Shakespeare’s works, particularly in the German-speaking countires. In doing so, it co-operates closely with scholars, teachers and artists.”

Paper Abstract

Freud suggested that in The Merchant of Venice the caskets are “symbols of the essential of femininity, hence of woman herself”. Quoting this passage, Bourdieu noticed how in Flaubert’s A Sentimental Education a silver casket is transferred between three women: in the novel, he argues, the significance of the casket “involves a homologous social scheme as well, to wit, the opposition between art and money”. According to Bourdieu, the three women come to be associated with different literary fields. Thus, Mme Arnoux might represent high art, while “mercenary art, […] represented by bourgeois theatre [is] associated with the figure of Mme Dambreuse, and minor mercenary art, represented by vaudeville, cabaret or the serial novel, [is] evoked by Rosanette”. Flaubert’s novel invites its readers to reflect on artistic fields. Shakespeare’s work can also be seen in a similar light, and a comparable technique seems to be noticeable when women are associated with performance in the plays.

The character of the Fool is often read as a symbol of the theatre, but this paper briefly explores the theatrical symbolism of Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Cressida in Troilus and Cressida and Cordelia in King Lear. It argues that Shakespeare’s characterisation of these three women can be seen to foreground issues of theatrical value and currency: Portia’s characterisation invites the audience to reflect on the power of a (financed) theatre; the characterisation of Cressida negotiates the theme of the theatre as prostitution; and, in Cordelia, King Lear seems to bewail the apparent failure of theatre to communicate its value. The paper thus responds to critical thinking on the making of theatrical value (Paul Yachnin), fictions of cultural production (Patrick Cheney), and the question of Shakespeare’s autonomy (Stephen Greenblatt / Richard Wilson).

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Laura Marlin Composes New Shakespeare Score

BBC NEWS:

She has already won a Brit award and been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize twice. But singer-songwriter Laura Marling’s latest project marks a change of direction. She has composed the music for a new production of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which opens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday evening.

“I got the real fear about doing this,” she told the BBC.

She said she was “daunted” when the Royal Shakespeare Company first approached her.

“I have no knowledge of theatre and I’d say not a huge knowledge of Shakespeare either.”

Find out more here.