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| Semester | fall semester 2018 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Ladina Bezzola Lambert (ladina.bezzola@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | When in London, do as the Romans do! - The adapted proverb illustrates Shakespeare's fascination with Ancient Rome as manifested in his Roman plays. Why was Rome so important to Shakespeare and his contemporaries? Was it intrinsically important to them or was Samuel Johnson right with his claim that Shakespeare's "story requires Romans and kings, but he thinks only on men" ('Preface to Shakespeare', 1765)? In other words: Is Roman history merely a familiar backdrop for universal human characteristics? If not, what other significance does it have? What does the focus on Rome say about the cultural identity of early modern England and its role on the margins of Europe? These are some of the questions that will concern us in this seminar on Shakespeare's Roman plays, almost all of which are tragic, some quite bloody. |
| Learning objectives | Students become familiar with all of Shakespeare's Roman plays and develop an understanding of the significance of Ancient Rome for early modern England. |
| Bibliography | Please acquire a copy of the following plays in any good critical edition, preferably the New Cambridge Shakespeare (NCS) or Oxford Shakespeare (OS) edition specified in brackets: 'Titus Andronicus' (NCS, ed. Alan Hughes, 2006; OS, ed. Eugene Waith, 2008); 'Julius Caesar' (NCS, ed. Marvin Spevack, 2017); 'Antony and Cleopatra' (OS, ed. Michael Neill, 2008); 'Coriolanus' (NCS, ed. Lee Bliss, 2010); 'Cymbeline' (NCS, ed. Martin Butler, 2005; OS, ed. Roger Warren, 2008) The first two seminar meetings will be devoted to Shakespeare's long narrative poem 'The Rape of Lucrece', a copy of which will be provided on ADAM. Please give it an attentive reading before the semester begins and start reading the plays in the order listed. We will be devoting two meetings on each play. There will be a number of critical texts to be read in addition to the primary texts. Copies will be uploaded on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | Open only to MA students |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Regular attendance, active participation, reading assignments, oral presentation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |