Honors
HNRS 167-01: Shakespeare, Children and Youth Culture: 1827-2007
In this course, we will study two centuries worth of Shakespeare adaptations for children. Our primary texts will include everything from the first collections of Shakespeare ever written for young people, the nineteenth-century classics Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and Henrietta Bowdler's The Family Shakespeare, to contemporary films and videos like Shakespeare: The Animated Tales and Baby Shakespeare. In addition to the Shakespeare adaptations, which the entire class will study together, each student will choose at least three Shakespeare plays to analyze and will trace the changes in children's versions of each play over the course of history. As we look at children's Shakespeare, we will pay attention in particular to the ideological assumptions embedded in the stories. An entire unit will be devoted to the ways in which children's Shakespeare is gendered in books such as William James Rolfe's Shakespeare the Boy (1896), Charles Alphonso Smith's Why Young Men Should Study Shakespeare (1902), and Mary Cowden Clarke's The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines (1850) and Shakespeare as the Girl's Friend (1887). We will also analyze constructions of age, nationhood, class, religion, and race – reading the politics of children's Shakespeare in historical and cultural context – and consider how commercial, educational, governmental and religious institutions have participated in and benefited from Shakespeare youth programming over the years, whether through sales of toys, games, and textbooks; outreach day-camps targeting juvenile offenders; or the federally-sponsored initiatives like the NEA's "Shakespeare across American Communities." To supplement our primary readings, we will read recent scholarship on the topic, including selections from Sharon Hamilton's Shakespeare's Daughters (2003), Jennifer Hulbert's Shakespeare and Youth Culture (2006), Naomi Miller's Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults (2003), and Kate Chedgzoy's Shakespeare and Childhood (2007). Assignments will include annotated bibliographies, research papers, a creative project, and a final presentation.
Fall Term: 2008
Credits: 4
Fulfills: GE Requirement in Humanities (U)
Cross-listed: ENGL 210-01
Meeting times: 15:00-16:20 T
Instructor: Amy Scott-Douglass