The Demands of Editing King Lear
Enter the office of Peter Holland, McMeel Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Notre Dame and Chair of the International Shakespeare Association, with Dr. Jennifer Birkett, Shakespeare at Notre Dame’s postdoctoral research associate, to learn more about Holland’s current, and perhaps most daunting, project: editing King Lear for the upcoming Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series. Listen in to the inside story of not only the task of editing Shakespeare, but also the demands of editing King Lear.
Experience the Episode
Sunday, September 8, 2024 12:00 pm
“When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down
And ask of thee forgiveness.” —King Lear, Act 5 Scene 3
Enter the office of Peter Holland, McMeel Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Notre Dame and Chair of the International Shakespeare Association, with Dr. Jennifer Birkett, Shakespeare at Notre Dame’s postdoctoral research associate, to learn more about Holland’s current, and perhaps most daunting, project: editing King Lear for the upcoming Arden Shakespeare Fourth Series. Listen in to the inside story of not only the task of editing Shakespeare, but also the demands of editing King Lear.
Brought to you by Shakespeare at Notre Dame and the Notre Dame Alumni Association.
Meet the Moderator: Jennifer Thorup Birkett '23 PhD
Jennifer Birkett ’23 PhD is a Postdoctoral Fellow with Shakespeare at Notre Dame. She researches early modern drama with a specific interest in terms of endearment and the relationship between text and performance. Her scholarship characteristically magnifies quirky details and contradictions in order to arrive at new affordances. She is deeply committed to empowering female voices within dramatic narratives and combatting gender inequality by championing mutuality and solidarity.
While a graduate student at Notre Dame, Jennifer worked as a managing editor for the Religion & Literature journal, co-directed the Early Modern Circle, and served as Social and Professionalization chairs for EGSA. She has taught multiple sections of Writing and Rhetoric, Shakespeare and Performance, and Intro to Film and Television.
Meet the Faculty: Peter Holland
Peter Holland was educated at Cambridge and, when he left in 1997, was Judith E. Wilson Reader in Drama and Theatre in the Faculty of English. He then served as Director of the Shakespeare Institute at Stratford-upon-Avon and Professor in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham before coming to Notre Dame in 2002 as the first holder of the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies, probably the only named chair in Shakespeare anywhere in the world that is not in an English or Literature department.
He was editor of Shakespeare Survey, the UK’s leading academic Shakespeare journal for 19 years, co-General Editor, with Stanley Wells and Lena Orlin, of Oxford Shakespeare Topics (Oxford University Press, over 30 volumes to date); with Adrian Poole, of the 18-volume series Great Shakespeareans (Bloomsbury Academic, 2009-13; with Farah Karim-Cooper and Stephen Purcell of a monograph series, Shakespeare in the Theatre (Bloomsbury Academic, 15 volumes to date); and, with Zachary Leader and Tiffany Stern, of the Arden Shakespeare 4th series. He has also edited many Shakespeare plays.
In 2007, Holland completed publication of a five-volume series of collections on Rethinking British Theatre History. He is the author of more than 140 articles on a wide range of topics in Shakespeare studies as well as on David Garrick, English pantomime, Chekhov, farce, Peter Brook, and many other aspects of drama and performance.
In 2007–08, he served as President of the Shakespeare Association of America. He is Chair of the International Shakespeare Association. He was elected an honorary fellow of the Shakespeare Institute and of Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge. In 2012 he received the Sheedy Award at Notre Dame.