Learning outcomes

The module will introduce students to the English theatrical adaptations of narrative paradigms, of classical and Renaissance origin, circulating in Europe in the Early Modern period, with a focus upon the relation between the page and the stage.

Program

Programme: The module will discuss the narrative paradigms embedded in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, as well as the various versions of the story of Romeo and Juliet, from the Italian novella tradition to Arthur Brooke’s poem and the play’s good and bad quartos.

Bibliography:

Primary texts:
1) William Shakespeare, The First Quarto of “Romeo and Juliet”, ed. Lukas Erne, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
2) William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, ed. G. Blackmore Evans, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (New Cambridge Shakespeare) 1984.
3) William Shakespeare, Romeo e Giulietta (parallel text), ed. S. Bigliazzi, Torino, Einaudi, 2012.
4) William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, ed. by Kurt Schlueter, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (NCS), updated edition, 2012.

Secondary texts:
1) Lukas Erne, Shakespeare as Literary Dramatist, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
2) Margreta de Grazia and Peter Stallybrass, “The Materiality of Shakespearean Text”, Shakespeare Quarterly, (44) 3, 1993, pp. 255-283.
3) Stephen Orgel, Authentic Shakespeare, London and New York, Routledge, 2002, chapters 1-4 (pp. 1-47).

Teaching method: Lectures will be held in English.

Examination Methods

The exam will consist in an oral discussion in English of the module’s topics.