"Shakespeare Fellowship" Website Posting about American Shakespeare course

Sage Readers:

Here is the posting from "The Shakespeare Fellowship":


Added 3/8/08

NYU/NYPL Shakespeare Course Requires Adherence to Stratford Party Line

It's official. To enroll in the NYU/Gallatin Interdisciplinary Seminar: "American Shakespeare" (Spring semester, 2008) students are required to be card carrying members of the Stratford cult.

The course description lists the two "requirements" for entrance as "1. A conviction that the plays of Shakespeare were written by Shakespeare" and "2. A belief that the works of Shakespeare constitute one of the cornerstones of world literature. "

The course, sponsored by will be held in the Humanities and Social Sciences library of the New York Public Library, is decribed as an opportunity to "discover the world of William Shakespeare at The New York Public Library. Ponder the textual problems of the quartos and folios. Explore various beautiful and unusual illustrated editions of Shakespeare' s plays and poems. Experience Shakespearean research for the 21st century through the Library's databases. "

What students obviously won't be doing in this course is asking any fundamental questions about Shakespeare, early modern literary studies, or the philosophy of inquiry in the human sciences. Those questions are forbidden: "fiat tenebras."

Thanks to Martin Hyatt for this news item.

Added 3/8/08