Professor Moncrief Co-Edits New Volume On Lessons from Early-Modern English Dramas

CHESTERTOWN, MD — Dr. Kathryn M. Moncrief, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of English at Washington College, is co-editor of a new scholarly exploration of how performances during Shakespeare’s time taught lessons in gender, conduct, social status and religion. Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance, published earlier this month by England’s Ashgate Publishing Company, is Moncrief’s second collaboration with Dr. Kathryn R. McPherson of Utah Valley University and something of a companion volume to their 2007 book, Performing Maternity in Early Modern England.

The 15 essays in the new book explore how models of childhood education, particularly for girls, were applied in domestic, religious and school settings and rehearsed in dramas by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. The collection breaks new ground as the first book to explore the rich and provocative intersection of gender, pedagogy, and performance.

“In early modern England, attention to education on both the stage and the page flourished,” says Moncrief. “Much of that instruction, occuring in the wake of both humanist and Protestant religious reforms, was guided by printed texts that explored pedagogical methods and the purpose of education for both boys and girls. The essays in this collection question the extent to which education itself — an activity rooted in study and pursued in the home, classroom, and the church — led to, mirrored, and was perhaps even transformed by moments of instruction on stage.”

In addition to co-editing the book, Moncrief wrote one of its chapters and co-wrote another with McPherson. She focuses much of her research and teaching at Washington College on early modern English drama (Shakespeare and his contemporaries) and 16th- and 17th-century English literature and culture, with a special focus on gender and performance. She holds a B.A. from Doane College, an M.A. from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. For more information: http://english.washcoll.edu/faculty_kathrynmoncrief.php.

Distinguished English Scholar to Discuss 'Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Washington College's 2008-2009 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series begins with a presentation by Helen Cooper, one of England's foremost medieval and Renaissance literary scholars, on "Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales: The Case of A Midsummer Night's Dream," at the Casey Academic Center Forum on Tuesday, September 9, at 4:30 p.m.

Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. She was an undergraduate, research student and research fellow at Cambridge before being appointed as the first woman fellow at University College, Oxford, in 1978.

In 2004 she returned to Cambridge as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance in English—a post originally created for famed Chronicles of Narnia author and Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis.

Professor Cooper is essentially interested in the continuity of literature across the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The author of numerous works of scholarship, her most recent book (the theme of which is reflected in her forthcoming Washington College presentation) is on romance, from its invention in the 12th century to the death of Shakespeare. She also has published extensively on The Canterbury Tales.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. The 2008-2009 series includes poetry readings, fiction readings, lectures and, as its culmination in March 2009, a special appearance by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.

Admission to "Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales" is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

August 28, 2008