The CHP section of English 218 will focus both on a selection of Shakespeare's plays and also on a sampling of works derived from those plays. The Shakespeare's texts will be chosen so as to provide an overview of his work in terms of various genres he worked in and of his development as a dramatist. The premise of the course is that just as Shakespeare adapted most of his plays from known preexisting sources, so later dramatists, poets, novelists, film-makers, composers and choreographers used his texts as the bases for their own adaptations.
Cinematic adaptations offer a rich body of material as well.
The derivative texts studied will be chosen so as to suggest the cultural, generic, and chronological range of this body of work. It is not yet decided whether or not there will be midterm and final examinations. He also studied at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford, England. He specializes in Shakespeare and teaches a course in Shakespeare on film and video. He also teaches a course in modern Jewish literature, and is director of the Drobny Program for the Study of Jewish Culture and Society.