Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

Next week I will be part of a seminar at a conference: the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America, which will be held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.[1] I’ve attended before: 2018: I attended the 2018 meeting in Los Angeles, California, where I met Gayle Gaskill, editor of the New Kitteridge edition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, as well as other scholars, young and old, with interesting tales to tell.[2] Gayle and I went on to present papers at the SCSC conference in the fall of 2018.[3] 2020: I was part of a seminar on “Mind, Cognition, and Affect” in 2020,[4] held on Zoom due to the pandemic. My paper was about labors of gratitude and regret in Hamlet, exploring how these emotions were instrumental in character arcs. See my series on that topic. [5] 2023: This year, I am taking part in the seminar, “Reconsidering Science and Religion,” on Thursday, 30 March, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. CST. My paper is called “Kuhnian Paradigm Shifts and Emmaus Untet...

SAA Seminar-by-Zoom This past Saturday (13 June) I participated in a Zoom meeting for the seminar, “Shakespeare and the Mind: Cognition, Emotion, Affect,” which had been postponed due to COVID-19 and the demands it created for those switching to online instruction. The seminar was for the 2020 conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, which had been scheduled for 15-18 April 2020 in Denver, Colorado, but the in-person element of the conference had been canceled because of the pandemic. Many of the events met over Zoom, and some posted these on social media for others to audit, but this was a bonus not in the original job description for seminar and workshop leaders (no one expected last June that there would be a pandemic, so familiarity with Zoom or other online conferencing platforms was not a requirement, and doing the extra work of managing auditors was also not expected, understandably, but it was unfortunate to miss out on so many of the conference events). Sem...

The Rocky Mountain Medieval & Renaissance Association (RMMRA) conference in Denver, April 11-13, was amazing, very thought-provoking and affirming, so while still glowing, I wanted to share a few things about how it went and what impressed me. First, I volunteered to chair a session about male shame and honor in medieval texts, including the poem, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Three graduate students in the Institute for Medieval Studies at The University of New Mexico presented papers. To prepare, I read some literature on the psychology of shame, and also reviewed some literature on gift economies (Lewis Hyde's The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property , a cult favorite). The presenters seemed to assume at first that it was a binary: Either honor or shame, and that this was mostly related to warrior culture. In fact, I found that gift dynamics are inextricably tied in with these other dynamics of violence, honor, and shame, and I would go so far a...

I recently learned that The Rocky Mountain Medieval & Renaissance Association April 2019 conference accepted my paper proposal, imagining how the late Hans Georg Gadamer might rethink Shakespeare and the Bible. The Stanford 
Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Gadamer as
 “the decisive figure in the 
development of twentieth-century hermeneutics” and “undoubtedly… one of the 
most important thinkers 
of the twentieth century.” As a college student 40 years ago, I attended a dinner where Gadamer spoke. My professors had me sitting right next to him at the meal. I asked him his impression of the U.S. on his trip, and he said Americans were “very proud.” Pride is not always a good thing: it can impede understanding. Gadamer stresses that scholarly writing about literature and the arts should not strive to follow scientific or empirical methods because the arts will always transcend what can be accounted for by the rigors of science. Yet many early efforts to catalog biblical all...

CFP: RMMRA Conference Call for papers: 2019 Rocky Mountain Medieval & Renaissance Assoc. conference, Denver, CO, April 11-13: RMMRA Call 2019 The Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association invites proposals for papers and panels at our Annual Conference to be held April 11-13 in downtown Denver, Colorado, at the SpringHill Suites Marriott adjacent to the Metropolitan State University of Denver. In addition to welcoming all paper and session proposals related to Medieval and Renaissance studies across all disciplines, the organizers will be creating a series of panels specifically focused on papers encoding Leonardo da Vinci’s belief in the essentiality of sapere videre on this the 500th anniversary of his death (1452-1519). For More Information: Click HERE or copy and paste into your browser: http://www.rmmra.org/2019-cfp-sapere-videre-knowing-how-to-see-denver-co-april-11-13-2019/ #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #Renaissance...

CFP: NPCEBL Call For Papers: Northern Plains Conference on Early Brit Lit 12-13 April 2019 Deadline March 11, 2019 Sponsored by Minnesota State U—Moorhead & Concordia College; sessions will be held at The Comstock Memorial Union, at the MSUM campus, Moorhead, MN. For more information : http://www.npcebl.org/NPCEBL2019CFP.pdf #Literature #LiteraryCriticism #Drama #Theatre #EarlyModern #Renaissance #EnglishLiterature #BritishLiterature #Britlit

Sixteenth Century Society Conference in Albuquerque: I will present a paper this Fri., Nov. 2, 1:30pm at this conference in New Mexico, on panel 93 with Prof. Emeritus Gayle Gaskill of Minnesota and Prof. Dean Clement of Oklahoma. Naseeb Shaheen (1931-2009, in the panel title) wrote a large and important work on Shakespeare's biblical influences, but like his predecessors, focused primarily on phrasing and not paraphrase or plot echo. My paper will include insights incubated here about Hamlet, plot echoes of Jonah, Emmaus, Lazarus & the rich man, and sentinel Francisco, whose namesake (Francis of Assisi) foreshadows the other allusions. Shakespeare will be the *main* focus in numerous other panels at the conference, including 75 F-8:30 Tragedy 145 Sa-10:30 & Religion 172 Sa-3:30 Shakespeare’s Dramatic Works & Their Legacy Shakespeare among other areas of focus: 53 Th-3:30 88 F-10:30 162 Sa-3:30 170 Sa-3:30 171 Sa-3:30 185 Sn-8:30 Join us if you'r...

SHAKESPEARE’S PUB SIGN, AUSTIN TX "And thereof comes the proverb: 'Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.'" - Two Gentlemen of Verona 3.1 One of my favorite elementary school teachers (beloved spouse) is attending the International Literacy Association (#ILA) #conference in Austin, TX, and invited me along. Heard some good #jazz and #blues on 6th Street last night (and saw many fun signs with creative pub names. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Originally posted around the week of 7/20/18 on LinkedIn ] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Links to a description of my book project: On LinkedIn : https://lnkd.in/eJGBtqV On this blog : https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2017/05/hamlets-bible-my-book-project-im.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #Shakespeare #Bars #Austin #Signage #TEXAS #PUB #ALE

PANEL & PAPER ACCEPTED FOR SIXTEENTH CENTURY SOCIETY CONFERENCE My panel and paper proposals were accepted for the Sixteenth Century Society Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1-4 Nov., 2018. The panel will be on how Shakespeare’s plays have not only obvious biblical allusions, but also plot echoes and other influences from the bible and the Book of Common Prayer. My paper will be on how certain biblical allusions and plot echoes shed light on Hamlet’s character arc. Also on the panel will be Gayle Gaskill, professor emeritus of the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, and (William) Dean Clement of Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. Gayle edited the New Kittridge ed. of Twelfth Night, and is an assistant ed. of the latest variorum edition; her book contributions include the 2002 collection, “The Merchant of Venice: New Critical Essays”; and “Who Hears in Shakespeare?: Auditory Worlds on Stage and Screen.” She has also written reviews of Shakespeare...

Call For Papers: For the Sixteenth Century Society & Conference in Albuquerque, NM (1-4 Nov. 2018), I’ve proposed a panel on how biblical allusions (in many forms) influence our readings of particular Shakespeare plays. Too often, biblical allusions are treated like wallpaper in the plays. Robert Alter writes of how allusions are like windows to another text, opening up larger conversations. Short proposals for papers are welcome. Details below. Best to focus on the many forms of biblical allusions in a single play. (You need not have read any of the books mentioned in the panel description; you need only have an interest in spotting and considering biblical allusions in a Shakespeare play, and interpreting the play in light of them.) https://lnkd.in/ehGh2NQ Deadline extended to April 23 to submit proposals to SCSC; please use Panel Code: P02M1518 #Shakespeare #EnglishLiterature #EnglishLit #EarlyModern #16C #Renaissance #literature #theatre #theology #biblicalstudies ...

Favorite experiences at SAA 2018 Some of my favorite experiences at the Shakespeare Association of America (SAA) conference in Los Angeles included meeting other attendees, either at seminars, or by chance. On the ride from the airport on Wednesday, I met Jim Schiffer of SUNY, who is working on the Twelfth Night variorum project, which may be published entirely online. There was also a wonderfully moderated seminar on "Thinking Theology with Shakespeare." Jay Zyck of UMass-Dartmouth did an excellent job, and the abstracts of the papers hinted at may more insights and riches. Auditors only experienced the tip of the iceberg. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ At #Shax2018 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. today, an amazing and most effectively moderated seminar. Jay was obviously very thorough in his reading of all the papers, noticed common themes, elicited good questions from all presenters beforehand, so they were all well-prepared. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A common observation: "This was one of the best-mo...

LOOKING FORWARD TO SAA 2018 - PROGRAM POST Looking forward to attending the Shakespeare Association of America's conference in Los Angeles this week. If you are there, message me via LinkedIn to say hi! Among the presenters/seminars I am especially looking forward to: 1. “Third Wave” Interdisciplinarity in Shakespeare and Biblical Studies — Lori Anne Ferrell (Claremont Graduate University) & Tammi J. Schneider (Claremont Graduate University). Among other works, Lori is the author of "Government by Polemic: James I, the King’s Preachers, and the Rhetorics of Conformity, 1603-1625" and "The Bible and the People." Among other works, Tammi is the author of "Sarah: Mother of Nations," "An Introduction to Ancient Mesopotamian Religion," and "Mothers of Promise: Women in the Book of Genesis." 2. Thinking Theology with Shakespeare — Jay Zysk (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth). Jay is the author of "Shadow and Substan...