English 327
Spring 1999
SHAKESPEARE
Initial information

Description

4 credits. Reading and discussion of some 10 plays. This course counts toward fulfillment of the English major’s requirement of three courses before 1800.

Meetings

MWF 10:10-11:00. First meeting in Rockefeller 306.

Instructor

Stuart Davis, Senior Lecturer
184 Rockefeller • 255-6281
sad4@cornell.edu
Office hours: W 2-4 and by appointment

Membership

Originally capped at 25, the course may expand to 40 if a room can be found suitable for a lecture/ discussion format.

        • Everyone should fill out the questionnaire distributed at the first meeting and return it to me ASAP.

Texts

  • The Norton Shakespeare, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (1997).*

  • A course supplement containing 6-8 critical articles, to be locally acquired (I’ll tell you when and where).

  • Occasional postings on a course website, at:

   http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/Courses/engl327/327index.html.

* An alternative for those who own or can find it is The Riverside Shakespeare, ed. G. B. Evans, 2nd (1997) or 1st ed. (1974). Check with me if you wish to use another complete edition.

Requirements

Regular attendance, three 5- to 7-page papers, a final. Several ungraded reading responses and participation in an electronic discussion list may also be required.

First assignment

Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1.1 to 2.1 for Wed. 1/27

Other Shakespeare courses offered by English include

 This semester:
   • English 208, Shakespeare and the Twentieth Century, B. Correll. MWF 11:15-12:05, GS 134
  Fall 1999:
  • English 208, Shakespeare and the Twentieth Century, S. Davis.
  • English 327, Shakespeare, B. Correll

Spring 2000:
  • English 227, Shakespeare, W. Wetherbee

Check the English Guide to Course Scheduling for 400-level Shakespeare courses.

Choice of plays

Given that we’re using a complete edition, the list of primary readings is open to some discussion. I have my preferences and my sense of what plays will work together; you’re encouraged to express yours. Here are three specimen lists reflecting alternative kinds of courses.

A. a balanced survey

B. comedies and tragedies

Midsummer Night’s Dream

Taming of the Shrew

Merchant of Venice

MND

As You Like It

MV

Richard II

AYL or TN

1 Henry IV

Troilus and Cressida

Henry V

Titus Andronicus

Othello

Othello

Lear

Macbeth

Antony and Cleopatra

Lear

Tempest

A&C

C. fancier
Doubles and couples (coupled, doubled)
(characters, identities, genders, plots)

Comedy of Errors & Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona & Merchant of Venice

Much Ado & Measure for Measure

Troilus and Cressida & Anthony and Cleopatra

Lear & Winter’s Tale

Thank you

for your patience with what is for the moment, at least with regard to enrollment, an unsettled situation. – SD


Made 1/25/99

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