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Medieval and Early Modern English studies at the UW cover literary and language interests from Old and Middle
English through the Renaissance and Seventeenth Century. The size of its faculty enables the English department
to offer a rich array of graduate courses in these areas every quarter.Recent and current seminars have included:
"Women Writers, Readers, and Printers in the Early Modern Period," the "disciplining" of Early Modern culture, and
"Renaissance Colonialisms," as well as more traditional offerings in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Beowulf, epic,
and history of English. These courses are complemented every term by medieval offerings in Germanics, Classics,
and History. In addition to these individual courses, the department has recently launched a unique
interdisciplinary Textual Studies Program to foster work on original texts. The collection of electronic
text databases is also being enhanced to facilitate rigorous work in the history of the language.
Diverse specialties of the faculty in Medieval and Early Modern English studies, including literary, linguistic, and theoretical approaches to the field, allow graduate students access to informed guidance on their research, and the collaborative efforts of faculty and graduate students promote work that crosses traditional temporal and disciplinary boundaries. The faculty are particularly interested in supporting scholarly endeavors initiated by graduate students, such as the Colloquium on Medieval and Early Modern English studies, which meets regularly throughout the academic year, and also informal lunches and discussions. Students interested in these areas can opt to pursue the M.A. concentration in Language and Rhetoric (MALR). (All Language and Rhetoric courses are, of course, open to all students in the English graduate program, and Language and Rhetoric graduate students have the flexibility to take non-Language and Rhetoric courses..) The Language and Rhetoric faculty have identified two areas of basic preparation for advanced English language work at the M.A. level: Theory and Foundations (Courses in Language and Rhetorical Theory), and Research Methods and Applications. The two core, required courses in each area are offered every year, as well as a selection of more specialized, related courses within all three concentrations. [link to exact details] Current graduate students represent a wide range of backgrounds and interests. Recent and ongoing dissertation projects include "Images of America in Shakespeare, Spenser, and Montaigne," a critical edition of medieval vernacular sermons and of Pierre Daniel Huet’s De Optimo Genere Interpretandi, and "‘Evil Women’: Patrilineal Fantasies in Early Modern Drama." | ||||
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Major Research Interests | ||||
John Coldewey: Medieval and Renaissance drama, scholarly editing, Chaucer, Shakespeare Alan Fisher: 17th-century, 18th-century, 16th-century, Italian humanism, early literary theory Charles Frey: Shakespeare, modern drama, theories of response (audiences, readers) Barbara Fuchs: English and Spanish Renaissance,17th-century literature within a transatlantic context Eric La Guardia: Renaissance literature, literary theory Sally Mussetter: Old English, Middle English, Old French, Italian, exegetical traditions Paul Remley: Medieval Germanic and Celtic texts, textual criticism, electronic methods of research Robert Stevick: Old and Middle English language and literature, English language history William Streitberger: Renaissance literature, drama, and culture, textual criticism, paleography Miceal Vaughan: Medieval literature (esp. Chaucer, Piers Plowman), textual studies John Webster: Renaissance literature and aesthetics, literary theory, linguistics, history and rhetoric | ||||
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