Professor Holly Dugan's Shakespearean London 2015

Professor Holly Dugan reports on Shakespearean London, a short-term study abroad course that GW English will run again in the coming semester!

Last March, my students and I travelled to London and Stratford as part of English 3446: Shakespearean London. We had the opportunity to study Shakespeare in some of the locations that defined his career in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and to see many of the plays on our syllabus brought to life by the Globe Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company (as well as few other plays and musicals because, well, it’s London!)

From his humble upbringing as the son of a glover in Stratford-upon-Avon to his successful career as a playwright in London, Shakespeare and his plays provided a unique itinerary for our trip to England. Our first few days in London concentrated on its famous sites. We stood in awe of the great works of English literature—including five quartos of Shakespeare’s works and a first Folio—on display at the British Library. We could almost imagine Shakespeare’s company, the King’s Men, performing in the great hall of Hampton Court while we were there. And we were appropriately haunted by tale young princes, imprisoned and (allegedly) killed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester to become Richard III during our twilight tour of the Tower of London. After high tea, we visited Millais’ Ophelia at the Tate Britain, his famous image of her corpse more beautiful and disturbing in person than in reproductions (especially the goldfish in the bottom left hand corner, which I had never noticed before this trip). At the National Gallery, we crouched next to Holbein’s Ambassadors, squinting to achieve the necessary perspectival shift that renders its famous memento mori image of a skull visible.  From there, we headed to the Thames for a riverboat to Greenwich to study early modern seafaring at the National Maritime Museum (and stand on the meridian line).  By the time we returned to zone 1, the tide had risen, emphasizing how much the river defines the metropolis, then and now.

In Stratford-upon-Avon, we visited the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and saw two performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company—Love’s Labours’ Lost and Love’s Labours’ Won (known to most of us as Much Ado About Nothing). We were lucky enough to get to chat in-depth with David Horovitz, the actor who played Leonato in the RSC’s production, and he shared his sense of the character and his motivation. We also worked with the famous theater company’s vocal trainer and learned how to embody the words of Shakespeare in powerful ways. (Some of us, ahem, were meant to be scholars…)

From there we headed back to London to tour the Globe Theater and to take in John Ford’s Broken Heart (1633). Ford’s play was staged at their Wanamaker theater, the Globe’s new indoor theater that creates an experience of seeing a Renaissance play not unlike the private indoor theaters that defined Jacobean and Caroline drama. Lit by candles, the wooden O of the Wanamaker was the perfect setting for this Caroline tale of ravishment, revenge, and heartbreak.  The sensations were overwhelming (one member of the audience fainted from all the blood!) and the topic was difficult, but the performance was by far (most of) our favorite, an experience we’re not likely to forget any time soon.  Our last day in London was a time to catch up with friends, explore neighborhoods, shop independent bookshops, and visit the many museums. (Yes, some of us really did pack more than four actual, real books with us and then spent most of our free time scouring the city for more! We’re English majors!)

It was, by far, my favorite trip to London. We arrive as a group of peers and left as friends. Best. Squad. Ever. If this sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to look for English 3446 next year. The course is offered each spring as part of the Dean’s Scholars in Shakespeare Program, a two year living and learning community for first and second year students in CCAS. The trip (besides airfare and meals) is free for those in the program. For other students, the additional costs of the trip are approximately $3000.

Please contact me if you’re interested in the course or for more information about the Dean’s scholars in Shakespeare Program. 

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British Romantic Period Students Visit National Gallery of Art

ENGL 3530 group examines a painting.

The National Gallery of Art—one of the finest institutions of its kind on the globe—is a mile and a half away from the George Washington University Campus.  The gallery’s physical and financial accessibility (it’s free!), peacefulness, and gorgeous collection demand a visit, which is one of several reasons that ENGL 3530: The British Romantic Period (taught by Professor Daniel DeWispelare) always takes a class trip to this important institution in order to survey and discuss the collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century art.

John Martin, "Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon," 1816. 

 The logistics for this class journey are simple: over one weekend, we divide the total group of 25-30 people into smaller groups of five or six students and meet for 1.5-hour tours of the relevant galleries.  Students are afforded the opportunity to visit the French neo-classical galleries and then progress through the museum’s collection of British Romantic art, as exemplified by stunning examples of landscape and portraiture by artists like J.M.W Turner, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Martin, and Benjamin West, among others.  The American collection corresponding to the same period has pieces of equivalent art historical value, especially the remarkable work “Watson and the Shark” by John Singleton Copley.  

John Singleton Copley, "Watson and the Shark," 1778. 

 One of the most category-shattering experiences occurs when students visit what the National Gallery refers to as “Naïve Painting,” which is a strange term that corresponds to the more common designation “Outsider Art” or “Art Brut.”  When in this gallery, and when looking at examples of brilliant artists who were never trained in any particular school of representative painting but who still managed to create gorgeous images (irrespective of whether they are accurate in terms of geometric perspective), students are able to see the productions of late-eighteenth- and  early-nineteenth-century art as the truly are: a series of studied conventions and genera that create the very conceptions of beauty for which they are celebrated. 

Edward Hicks, "The Peaceable Kingdom," 1826.

 The tour ends with a visit to a small gallery that displays the American painter Thomas Cole’s four-painting series “The Voyage of Life.”  These four paintings—entitled “Childhood,” “Youth,” “Manhood,” “Old Age”—allegorize an individual’s progression through various stages of life by depicting the ways in which visions of the natural environment metaphorize the mental experience of certain stages of life.  In “Youth,” for example, a bright and fecund landscape echoes the painted figure’s optimistic view of the future, a view rigorously contradicted in “Manhood,” a painting wherein the central figure prays to a God occupying a dark and stormy sky in order to ensure that he will survive his passage down a series of dangerous riverine rapids.  A Romantic interest in the lifecycle is palpable in these gorgeous creations, as is the sense that life (like history) progresses in discrete stages. 

Thomas Cole, "Manhood," Image #3 of "The Voyage of Life," 1842.  

 More than anything else, ENGL 3530’s visit to the National Gallery is an opportunity to trade impressions of visual art while building an intellectual community using the resources that Washington, DC, makes available.  Though not all students have visited the museum before—sometimes this group includes even those seniors who have been living in our nation’s capital for three years or more!—most students report that the weekend time they devote to this activity is well spent.  Many also report that they would like to visit the museum again soon.  

ENGL 3530 after gallery visit, September 2015. 

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Scenes from the GW English Celebration of Ann Romines's Career

On October 2, GW English hosted "American Literature, Women's Writing, Willa Cather Studies: The Work of Ann Romines.  Full details of the event can be read here.  Below are some photos from the successful event.  Thanks to all who attended!

Professor Ann Romines (pictured here with GW English PhD
Charmion Gustke) retired this year after 43 years of service
to the department

Composer and Pianist Gregory Spears
talked about his operatic adaptation
of Willa Cather's "Paul's Case"

Soprano Millicent Scarlett
performed "The Teacher's Aria"
from Spears's opera

Charmion Gustke (GW English PhD)
of Belmont University
opened a panel featuring former
students of Ann Romines

Michael O'Neill, current GW English
PhD student was the second panelist

Naomi Lesley (GW English PhD)
of Holyoke Community College

rounded out the panel of former students

Georgetown's Lisbeth Fuisz
(GW English Phd) was the
fourth panelist

The keynote address was delivered by
Professor Guy Reynolds of
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
who spoke about Ann Romines's archival
and historical work on the scholarly
edition of Sapphira and the Slave Girl

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DC Reads selection: Edward P. Jones's All Aunt Hagar's Children

One Book. One City. One Good Read. 

That is how DC Reads, a DC Public Library literacy program that promotes reading for pleasure by having citywide celebrations for teens and adults that focus on one book, opens its description of this year's selection.  Each year a new book is selected by a public nomination process.  This year, GW English is happy to announce, the DC Reads selection is All Aunt Hagar's Children (2006) by GW English Professor Edward P. Jones.  You can find all the details of DC Reads, which runs from October 15-November 9 here.

If you have not yet had the pleasure of reading All Aunt Hagar's Children, now is the perfect chance to do so, along with the rest of Washington, D.C.!

Here is how DC Reads describes Professor Jones's 2006 collection of stories:

"In All Aunt Hagar’s Children, fourteen stories describe what life was like for African Americans migrating to and growing up in Washington, D. C.  Edward P. Jones’s characters and scenes come to life with vivid imagery and great attention to detail.  The city embraces them. Many of these characters not only carry burdens of their past but those of previous generations as well.  The story of the Great Migration from the South is part of their history.  They work tirelessly, dream of better lives, and struggle to combat obstacles that stand in their way. In the end, there is light at the end of the tunnel; the darkness is pierced with glimmers of hope.  Fear not, for Aunt Hagar’s children are a tenacious lot. Their roots are planted firmly in the ground and there they shall remain.  Their faith in the power of family will see them through.  They will survive."

All Aunt Hagar’s Children was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner award in 2007.  In 2010, Professor Jones won the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in the art of the short story.  

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Today! A Celebration of the Work of Ann Romines

Join us today to celebrate the work of Ann Romines:

American Literature, Women's Writing, Willa Cather Studies

2-2:30: Phillips Phillips B-120 

3-4:30 PM: Myers Room, GW's Textile Museum  

Full information on today's events can be found here.

As an added bonus, Professor Romines's collection of 19th Century American quilts are on display in the Textile Museum, along with her descriptions accounting for their historical significance.

“Drunkard’s Path” (Left of Photo)

This quilt was probably made in the late 19^th century, in the Missouri Ozarks, where I grew up.  I bought it there as a gift for my mother (who was not a drunkard).

“House” (Center)

I had long wanted a house quilt, ever since I fell in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House” books as a girl, and eventually wrote a book about them. This is a late 19^th century Virginia quilt, which I bought in Fauquier County.

“Trip Around the World” (Right)

Such quilts, pieced of small squares, were often called “postage stamp quilts.”  This one was bought by a dealer at an estate auction in Grinnell, Iowa. It was probably made in the 1930’s, since the fabrics (which were often saved for years) seem to come from the twenties and thirties. It contains more than 10,000 pieces. I bought the quilt in West Branch, Iowa, when I was doing research there at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library for my Wilder book.

“Sixteen Patch” or “Mosaic” (Top Right of Photo)

The pattern of simple squares is similar to the “Nine Patch” which was the first quilting project of many young girls. Some of the patterns in these fabrics might have appealed to a child, especially the dogs and the moss roses (a very popular 19^th C. pattern). Signed in one corner with initials of maker and/or owner. Willa Cather was very proud of the simple quilts she pieced as a child, in similar simple patterns. The “old women” of the community, far more skilled needlewomen, quilted those quilts.  Notice that the quilting in this quilt, in a “pumpkin seed” pattern, is far more elaborate than the simple pieced pattern. The quilt came from a family in the countryside just west of Winchester, Virginia, near the West Virginia line.  This was the area where Willa Cather was born and spent her first nine years, and where she set her last novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl.

“Friendship Quilt” (Center)

There are three possible names for this pattern: “Friendship Knot,” “Starry Crown,” and “All Hands Around.”  Women embroidered their names of the blocks and the quilt became a gift for a friend, often someone who was moving far away. This quilt was made circa 1861. It belonged to a New England family that moved to Virginia, and I bought it in Alexandria in 1985.

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