Shakespeare

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This module will offer an introductory survey for fresher students. It will begin by asking why Shakespeare is still considered a writer worth studying, four hundred years after his death and why his work tends to be given a particular prominence within English Studies. Potential different approaches to studying his texts will be mapped out and considered. A selection of texts will then be examined over the course of the term, covering all of the main genres and all periods of the canon. The module will conclude by considering the question of how the study of Shakespeare's plays relates to theoretical issues more generally, before finally opening outward to consider the global context of Shakespeare dissemination and study.