Talk and Open House (Medieval Studies & Global Early Modern Studies)

Open House and Talk

Sponsored by the the Certificate Programs in Medieval Studies and Global Early Modern Studies.

"Shakespeare's Haunted Generation: Sex and Succession in King Lear"

Professor Tanya Pollard

This paper explores King Lear’s preoccupation with birth and reproduction by situating the play in the context of the now invisible shaping power of some influential ghosts, both textual and material, looming behind the play. It argues that Shakespeare develops the play’s devastating tragic vision by putting an older model of tragedy in conversation with the lives of the actors in his playing company, especially their leading actor, Richard Burbage. Attending to the way the play is haunted, both by past literary forms and by the lived experience of its creators, offers a window in its exploration of catastrophically broken bloodlines.

Talk will be followed by Open House.

Host or Publisher Medieval Studies Certificate Program