Renaissance and Early Modern Literature and Culture
Renaissance and Early Modern Literature and Culture is a particular strength of period-based research in the School. There are seven members of staff working in the field:
- Professor Thomas Cain (Emeritus)
- Professor Kate Chedgzoy
- Dr Ruth Connolly
- Dr Shehzana Mamujee (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow)
- Professor Michael Pincombe
- Professor Peter Reynolds
- Professor Jennifer Richards
They share a range of research expertise in the drama, poetry and prose of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Areas of strength include: Shakespeare and his contemporaries, children and early modern culture, theatre and performance, mid-Tudor writing, the Atlantic Renaissance, reading practices and marginalia, rhetoric and dialogue, women's writing, and textual editing.
Ruth Connolly is the convenor of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies @ Newcastle Research Group, which facilitates interdisciplinary dialogue about all things Renaissance/Early Modern and also sponsors events relating to the University's Social Renewal focus; the annual Honigmann Shakespeare Lecture; 'The Winter School : The History of the Future: Archives, Museums and their Value'.
With MEMS we are developing partnerships between universities (Durham University and Queen's University, Belfast) and archives in order to enhance postdoctoral training for our students by fostering placements, internships and collaborative doctoral wards. We are developing digital heritage as an area of our research by drawing on expertise at Culture Lab and at Queen's University, Belfast.
With the support of MEMS we are co-organising a symposium on 'Childhood in Early Modern Culture' with the Gender Research Group and colleagues from Queen's University Belfast and Durham University in May 2013; an AHRC Network event on 'Early Modern Memory Practices and the Making of Community' in June 2013; and, with Dr Louise Wilson (St Andrews), a Leverhulme Trust funded 'Symposium on Health and Reading in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800)' in July 2013.
Professor Reynolds directs the School's end of year performance of a Shakespeare play.
The University Library has excellent resources to support this area. It subscribes to Early English Books Online (EEBO). The Library's Department of Special Collections holds the Bainbrigg Collection (deposited by the Governors of Appleby Grammar School) and the Bradshaw Collection.
Staff working in this area have published several books. Professor Richards is currently Editor of the journal Renaissance Studies.
Postgraduates
We have a very successful group of home and international postgraduate students working on Renaissance Literature and Culture, and we have been particularly successful at securing AHRC-funded scholarships in recent years. Colleagues contribute to the successful MA in English Literature 1500-1900.
Projects
- AHRC-funded Research Grant: 'An Edition of the Complete Poetry of Robert Herrick'
- Major Leverhulme Research Fellowship: 'Useful Books: Reading and Talking in the English Renaissance'
Research Interests