Paul Adrian Fried / HAMLET'S BIBLE

At the Sixteenth Century Society Conference convention in Minneapolis last week, I had many serendipitous meetings with scholar/authors. In a Friday session, “Literature and Religion in Early Elizabethan England,” one presenter cited a source claiming God the Father as defending the masculinity of Jesus. I was reminded of parts of Debora K. Shuger’s book, The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity .[1] During Q&A time, I mentioned how Shuger’s book seemed to offer an alternative view. The presenter replied, “Do you know you are sitting right behind Debora Shuger?” So that is how I met Debora Shuger ,[2] who was kind and generous to talk with me then and later in the conference. I attended a roundtable on Thursday night called “Crisis And Refuge: Historical Reflections On War, Persecution, And Exile.” I had started reading Nicholas Terpstra’s book, Religious Refugees in the Early Modern World: An Alternative History of the Reformation .[3] Terpstra[4] wa...

With, hoo! such bugs and goblins in my life... Hamlet 5.2.25 [1] This is my favorite Halloween-themed line in Hamlet , from the last scene, at the start of which Hamlet describes to Horatio how he discovered the letter with orders from Claudius for England to execute Hamlet (by beheading) upon their ship's arrival there. In the USA, we are approaching Halloween, the evening of 31 October, "All Hallows Eve," before All Saints Day. Children dress in costumes, go door to door and ask, "Trick or treat?" and often receive a treat of some kind. Usually too much manufactured sugary-candy (one of the reasons the USA has so many diabetics...). 2022 SCSC, Minneapolis: This Year, the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference has its convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, only about an hour's drive from where I live. I will be giving a paper/presentation touching on how Shakespeare had to carefully encode his critique of government and the state religion, and h...

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...