With
misogynist views being expressed unashamedly by podcasters and
influencers in our time, we direct our gaze at male-male bonding in the
early modern period. Modelled on classical ideals of homoerotic
friendship, Elizabethan and Jacobean relationships between men are
easily misconceived today. We will reconsider Tom MacFaul’s Male Friendship in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) and Will Tosh’s Male friendship and testimonies of love in Shakespeare's England
(Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) in the light of recent
scholarship. Most importantly, we will analyse and discuss Francis
Beaumont and John Fletcher’s comedy The Coxcomb (1608), a play first printed in 1647 and included in volume 1 of The Dramatic Works in the Beaumont and Fletcher Canon
edited by Fredson Bowers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
On the basis of this edition we will create our own annotated edition,
highlighting the indebtedness of both playwrights to Cervantes in
general and to the story known as “The Curious Impertinent” found at the
end of the first volume of Don Quixote.
When
you sign up for this course, make sure to commit to investing at least
four hours every week in order to prepare for our conversations.
Please note: This course is part of a digital detox project. Please
refrain from the use of digital devices for the duration of our weekly
sessions!
The SL is awarded for editing a scene from the play; the PL is an oral exam [MAP]
- Dozent/in: Felix Sprang