Pese a su prestigio académico y a la importancia de su producción poética, el valenciano Juan Fernández de Heredia es un poeta cancioneril de cuya vida y obra todavía albergamos bastantes lagunas. Un factor que podría explicar esta situación es que sus poesías completas, editadas por Rafael Ferreres a mediados del siglo pasado, (Fernández de Hered…[Read more]

La hipersexualización de personajes femeninos en la literatura de todos los tiempos responde a varios patrones culturales bastante determinados y convenientemente analizados por la teoría literaria, tanto la de rango más generalista (Dworkin 13-47) como la dedicada de forma específica a las literaturas hispánicas (García Velasco 292-307). En el…[Read more]

El artículo analiza el neogoticismo y su incidencia en la propaganda ideológica dispersa en la Edad Media hispánica desde los siglos IX al XV. Se estudia su apogeo en las crónicas medievales y su posterior desaparición, así como su recuperación entre los siglos XV y XVI de la mano de obras genealógicas y de cancioneros poéticos. Específi…[Read more]

Los debates literarios son prácticamente consustanciales e intrínsecos a la existencia de la literatura en cualquier lengua y en cualquier cultura, en tanto que «en último término, remiten a condicionamientos pragmáticos humanos» (Chas Aguión 2002 : 59). Por lo que respecta a su inserción en la cultura de la Edad Media hispánica, hay un aspecto i…[Read more]

This blogpost summarizes findings presented at a talk at Erfurt University on 16 May 2023, in the series KFG “Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formation,” Global Exchange: Trade, Knowledge, and Religion. In this blogpost we present our key argument that rigorous correlation between archaeological, genomic, and documentary evidence dem…[Read more]

In this essay I address an area of cinematic musical development where the importance of women’s contributions has gone un(der) noticed: the compiled score, a film score created for early film primarily from pre-existing pieces, in both its written and recorded varieties. I examine written and recorded compiled scores created by Hazel Burnett, A…[Read more]

Criticism of the Shakespearean canon through adaptation as a genre has the capacity for liberation and social reparation. As a cluster of complex texts that sustains both past practices and contemporary interpretive conventions, Shakespeare provides fertile ground for training students to listen intently and compassionately to other individuals’ v…[Read more]

Stage and screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays raise ethical questions – that is, questions about how human beings should act and treat one another. In which contexts might cross-cultural enterprises be naturalising the values associated with Shakespeare to exploit unequal power relations among artists of different backgrounds? Con…[Read more]

By applying translation theories and discourse analysis to the study of thirteenth-century English law, it is apparent that some of the terms used in secondary works and printed editions of primary sources are not based on the actual manuscript sources but instead modern biases (intersecting ethnicity and gender). The knock-on effect of this…[Read more]

Alexa Alice Joubin was named the inaugural recipient of the bell hooks Legacy Award on April 7, 2023. The Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association (PCA / ACA) established the award to commemorate the late feminist writer and activist bell hooks (1952-2021) who has authored more than 30 books. The award recognizes Joubin’s a…[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]

This interview with non-binary actor Jess Chanliau, conducted by Alexa Alice Joubin, explores genderplay onstage. A bilingual actor, Chanliau has played Viola, “an intrinsically trans character” in Twelfth Night and a queer Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. They spoke candidly on their experience of either being toke-nized or being cast frequently as…[Read more]

Cross-gender roles and performances permeate many of Shakespeare’s plays. This special issue on contemporary transgender performance of Shakespeare was published by the open-access journal dedicated to Shakespeare and appropriation, Borrowers and Lenders, and edited by Alexa Alice Joubin. It contains research articles and interviews of actors. S…[Read more]

An introductory lecture for non-specialists on medieval schooltexts for sex education of pre-pubescent boys: Rota Veneris, Pamphilus De Amore and, especially, Facetus ‘Moribus et vita’, of which a most complete 13-14th century translation into Catalan survives. The author has published numerous scholarly papers and an academic book on this subject.

Schematic (bullet-point) overview of Old Saxon and Old High German metre, with a particular emphasis on alliterative verse. My goal is to sketch out the main features of the metre, especially in comparison with Old English, rather than to delve into theoretical fundamentals (though an appendix touching on that topic is included). I also append a…[Read more]

An overview of the main features of Old English metre, including a comparison of theories for the basic operation of the metrical system.