Summer Programs...

> INTERPRETING SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY:
> CRITICAL ISSUES IN HAMLET & KING LEAR

The seminar will aim to introduce participants to some of the main interpretive issues surrounding the plays, from the eighteenth century to our own time. We would take time to examine some of the main themes of the plays in detail, and look at the plays' performance and critical history, adaptations for the screen, relevant intellectual contexts of Shakespeare's own day, and the plays' approaches to such topics as love and sex, death, politics and government, religious belief, the relations between men and women. We would also look at some problems arising from the printing history of the two texts in Shakespeare's time.

THE PROGRAM
This four-day intensive seminar on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and “King Lear” aims to introduce participants to some of the main interpretive issues surrounding the plays via a programme of close reading and discussion. The seminar will pay some attention to the plays' performance and critical history, to screen adaptations, and to relevant intellectual contexts of Shakespeare's own day. Its chief concern, however, will be the plays themselves, and the large topics they seem centrally preoccupied with: the nature of the self; love, sex, and family relationships; politics, law, and government and their relation to justice; the existence or non-existence of gods or God; what happens after death; revenge; the relations between men and women. Throughout we will pay particular attention to Shakespeare’s language, style, and poetic and dramatic technique, and also consider some of the fascinating problems arising from the complicated printing history of the two plays in Shakespeare's time.

RECOMMENDED TEXT
The main consideration here is that participants possess accurate and scholarly editions of the play. These will often also contain helpful notes and other aids to understanding. Any texts issued by the following publishers, for example, would be fine: Penguin, Oxford, Cambridge, Norton, New Arden, Signet, Folger Library, Riverside, Harper Collins. If in doubt as to which text to bring along, please contact the Group Leader, Dr Peter Holbrook. Ideally participants will have read both plays at least once before attending the seminar.
There are many stimulating and up-to-date general introductions to Shakespeare now available. Participants might like to try to read at least one of these before attending the seminar:

THE GROUP LEADERS
Dr Peter Holbrook is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Queensland, teaching mainly in the areas of English Renaissance literature and Shakespeare. He is the author of "Literature and Degree in Renaissance England: Nashe, Bourgeois Tragedy, Shakespeare" (University of Delaware Press, 1994) and co-editor of "The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque" (Cambridge UP, 1998). His current project concerns the cultural politics of Shakespeare in the Victorian period. Dr Holbrook has been a recipient of a "Commendation" in the University's Teaching Awards.