 |
 |
CFP: (Book Collection TITLE:"Working With Tudor Drama Before Shakespeare: Essays and Studies on Scholarly and Pedagogical Practice" Sixteenth-century drama before Shakespeare has received fairly consistent attention at some convention meetings (often at special sessions, society-sponsored panels, or occasional conferences). However, major new-historical, materialist, and post-modern examinations of the early modern period still concentrate on Shakespeare and Marlowe, among a few other major names, for their literary evidence. Very few full-length studies care to examine pre-Shakespearean (and pre-Marlovian) drama as demonstrative of major aesthetic, ideological, political, religious, or ethnic movements of the sixteenth century up to 1590. This collection aims to be unique. It will provide teachers, researchers, independent scholars, and theater historians with a scholarly handbook of critical and pedagogical practice. To that end, the book is divided into four sections: i) A section of traditional essays will examine specific texts, authors, and topics closely, while indicating the relevance of their particular study to the period as a whole. ii) Shorter contributions are invited for a section on pedagogical ideas, methodological pointers, applications of theory, performative issues, and notes on the use of documents. iii) A third section will summarize, discuss, and add to major published work in the field. iv) A research and teaching resources section will be added at the end. The volume will thus provide a cogent guide to the current state of academic work in the area while pointing toward the future with practical and theoretical suggestions for ongoing research and teaching. The book hopes to encourage continuing rigorous and sustained scholarly work in drama from 1485 to 1590, to ensure accurate representations of theater history, and to prompt teachers to incorporate high quality and revealing examples of earlier early modern drama in undergraduate survey and graduate classes. Some suggestions for appropriate topics follow, but all papers on dramatic entertainment in the Tudor period are invited. Studies in late medieval drama and non-Shakespearean / Marlovian post-1590 drama that point out the relevance of the material and argument to the period 1485-1590 are also invited. Scholars and teachers in fields other than literature and history are encouraged to participate: for instance, we might look at questions of architectural and/or social space, anthropological and/or geographical spheres of influence, or the relationship of the drama to iconic or symbolic art. Contributions are also encouraged from new scholars in the field. HISTORICAL AND MATERIAL: What did drama do for the new Tudor dynasty? How did it alter, incorporate, or ignore history with the accessions of Henry VIII, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth? What material factors make the drama what it was (and is)? In what ways should we reassess any narrative of progressive dramatic growth toward Shakespeare? What are the generic shifts of the period, and how do they intersect (household entertainments, traveling players, non-dramatic entertainers called “players” in the records, etc.)? What continental and non-English factors contribute to the nature and history of Tudor drama before Shakespeare? METHODOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL: What should we be reading for research and teaching, and why? What is the status of Henrician, Marian, and early Elizabethan drama in the academy? What should future editions (printed or digital) of pre-Shakespearean dramatic texts look like? How would our teaching of currently canonical Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline dramatists alter if we attended more consistently to earlier Tudor writings as important literary texts in their own right? CRITICAL AND THEORETICAL: Is it appropriate to examine this period and this material with post-modern critical analysis? What might such analysis entail? How does contemporary performance theory and practice change our understanding of these texts? What approaches might we foreground for a revival of pre-Shakespearean drama in the scholarly and pedagogical academy? Which documents, discourses, institutions and practices might transform the study of “early” early modern drama? Please send proposals/summaries for short notes and papers (up to 10 pages) and detailed abstracts of full-length essays. Completed work welcome. Contact Lloyd Edward Kermode, Dept. of English, California State University Long Beach, [log in to unmask], or Jason Scott-Warren, York University, [log in to unmask]