Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy creates a subtle apologia for the “middling sort” by challenging the socially constructed predicates of aristocratic privilege. A scrivener’s son, Kyd undertsood oeconomia, or household management, as both the means for material advancement among the “middling sort” and a potential threat to aristocratic insular…[Read more]

Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy creates a subtle apologia for the “middling sort” by challenging the socially constructed predicates of aristocratic privilege. A scrivener’s son, Kyd undertsood oeconomia, or household management, as both the means for material advancement among the “middling sort” and a potential threat to aristocratic insular…[Read more]

The Companion assembles a total of twenty chapters in English throughout, which – as explained in more detail in the Introduction by the two editors – are thematically divided into three sections (“parts”): “Isidore’s Contexts” (chapters 1-4, including the “Introduction”), “Themes in Isidore’s Works” (chapters 5-13), and “Transmission andReception…[Read more]

Examines Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and the epistemological challenges of differentiating twins in light of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, specifically his theories of substance and individuation.

Examines Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and the epistemological challenges of differentiating twins in light of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, specifically his theories of substance and individuation.

Examines Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and the epistemological challenges of differentiating twins in light of Aristotle’s Metaphysics, specifically his theories of substance and individuation.

Shortly after publishing the first edition of his Essays in 1597, Francis Bacon drafted De sapientia veterum, a series of unpublished essays designed to re-read classical mythology as indicative of political and scientific truths. An early, if partial, expression of Bacon’s project to facilitate mastery over the natural order, De sapientia has c…[Read more]

While the Res Gestae are understood as an important source for the life and work of Augustus, Henning Ohst presents letters of the Princeps. These have survived only in fragments and through other authors, but still offer research opportunities for new questions. The focus of the contribution is the relationship of the Princeps to poets such as…[Read more]

Biographical article about August Weichert an important rector of the Landesschule at Grimma and philologist in the first half of the 19th century.

More detailed discussions on: Y. Brandenburg: Amare mit Infinitv. Bedeutungsentlehnung und Sprachgebrauch bei Sallust und Horaz, Glotta 98, 2022, 68–77 (362f.); A. J. Woodman: Horace’s Second Ode, MH 79, 2022, 55–76 (363f.)

More detailed discussions on: G. E. Thüry: Bettgeflüster in der römischen Provinz. Der Wortschatz des erotischen Lateins in Fiebelinschriften, Gymnasium 129, 2022, 143–163 (253f.); A. Heil: Der Totengeist des Laius in Statius’ Thebais, WS 134, 2021, 139–161 (254f.)

This essay examines English Renaissance chess manuals in order to understand why chess, a game that encourages subterfuge and stratagem, was nonetheless figured as the paradigmatic example of a virtuous pastime. Particular attention is given to da Odenara Damiano’s The Pleasaunt and Wittie Playe of the Cheasts (1564), Arthur Saul’s The Famous Gam…[Read more]

The Longleat Manuscript, the earliest known illustration of a Shakespearean play, contains three main components: a passage from the beginning of Titus Andronicus where Tamora pleads for her son’s life, lines from Aaron’s final confession, and a hand-drawn image that, apparently, corresponds with neither passage fully. Amid other mysteries, the…[Read more]

All the world’s a stage, but the irony is the rest of the globe often has an easier time understanding William Shakespeare than English speakers. “English audiences are at a disadvantage because the language has evolved and is more and more distant. They need footnotes, props and staging to understand,” said Alexa Alice Joubin, a Shakespeare schol…[Read more]

When ChatGPT was launched, Alexa Alice Joubin realized it was here to stay. She views it as her responsibility to teach students how to use it responsibly, not as a shortcut. “This technology is going to be with us, and students need employable skills in terms of curation, editorial repackaging and prompt engineering,” Joubin said. “They need…[Read more]

This special issue on contemporary performance proposes “trans” as method and as a social practice rather than as an immutable identity category that stands in opposition to more established ones such as cis-gender men or cisgender women. We ask new questions about Shakespearean performance: How might the meanings of the plays change if we…[Read more]

Gender is a set of interpersonal relationships and social practices that evolve in the presence of other people , in social spaces, and over time. My theory of trans lens corrects the institutionalized cis-sexism that assumes the cis status of even those characters with fluid gender practices. It does so by questioning the purported neutrality of…[Read more]

This interview with Dr. Mary Ann Saunders, conducted by Alexa Alice Joubin, offers a new interpretation of Julie Taymor’s 2010 film The Tempest. Bringing her life experience to bear on cisgender biases in non-trans artists’ works, Saunders proposes a new interpretation of Ariel, as performed by Ben Whishaw, as a trans woman who is “both beautiful…[Read more]

This interview with Terri Power, conducted by Alexa Alice Joubin, focuses on the representations of trans masculinity in Power’s play Drag King Richard III. For nearly two decades Power has been at the forefront of trans and queer representation in performances of Shakespeare. Weaving a personal story of the 1990s with Shakespeare’s early modern d…[Read more]

This interview with King Sammy Silver, conducted by Alexa Alice Joubin and Terri Power, explores drag as a stage practice. A London-based actor and YouTube personality, he represents a new generation of trans artists. He has worked with Power on multiple Shakespeare productions at Bath Spa University in the UK and elsewhere, and has been…[Read more]