Publications

2020
Why Shakespeare? Irony and Liberalism in Canonization
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Why Shakespeare? Irony and Liberalism in Canonization.” Modern Language Quarterly 81, no. 1 (2020): 33-64. PDF
2019
Wilson, Jeffrey W.Tragic Foundationalism.” Mosaic 52, no. 4 (2019): 91-108. jeffrey_r._wilson_22tragic_foundationalism22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.'Redeeming time': The Dramatization of Desistance in 1 Henry IV.” In Shakespeare On Stage and Off, edited by Kenneth Graham and Alysia Kolentsis, 139-55. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22redeeming_time-_the_dramatization_of_desistance_in_1_henry_iv22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.The Meaning of Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews (2019). Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22the_meaning_of_death_in_shakespeares_hamlet22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Historicizing Presentism: Toward the Creation of a Journal of the Public Humanities.” Profession (2019). Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22historicizing_presentism_-_toward_the_creation_of_a_journal_of_the_public_humanities22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Public Shakespeare in Public Seminar.” Public Seminar, 2019. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22public_shakespeare_in_public_seminar22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Trump is Satan: Paradise Lost in Washington, DC.The Spectator USA, 2019. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22trump_is_satan_-_paradise_lost_in_washington_dc22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.How Game of Thrones Will End: Spoilers from the Fifteenth Century.” Public Seminar, 2019. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22how_game_of_thrones_will_end_-_spoilers_from_the_fifteenth_century22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Tragic Excess in Hamlet.” Literary Imagination 21, no. 2 (2019): 107-19. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22tragic_excess_in_hamlet22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Macbeth and Criminology.” College Literature 46, no. 2 (2019): 453-85. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22macbeth_and_criminology22_2019.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Horatio as Author: Storytelling and Stoic Tragedy in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.” In Hamlet and Emotions, edited by Bob White and Paul Megna, Bríd Phillips. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22horatio_as_author_-_storytelling_and_stoic_tragedy_in_hamlet22_2019.pdf
2018
Wilson, Jeffrey R.The Figure of Stigma in Shakespeare’s Drama.” Genre 51, no. 3 (2018): 237-66. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22the_figure_of_stigma_in_shakespeares_drama22_2018.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Shakestats: Writing About Shakespeare Between the Humanities and the Social Sciences.” Early Modern Literary Studies 20, no. 2 (2018). Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22shakestats_-_writing_about_shakespeare_between_the_humanities_and_the_social_sciences22_2018.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.'Savage and deformed’: Stigma as Drama in The Tempest.” Mediaeval and Renaissance Drama in England 31 (2018): 146-77. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_savage_and_deformed_-_stigma_as_drama_in_the_tempest_2018.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.'As a stranger give it welcome’: Shakespeare’s Advice for First-Year College Students.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 50, no. 5 (2018): 60-62. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22as_a_stranger_give_it_welcome_-_shakespeare_s_advice_for_first_year_college_students22_2018.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.‘You must needs be strangers’: Stigma and Sympathetic Imagination in Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More.” In Making Strangers: Outsiders, Aliens, and Foreigners, edited by Abbes Maazaoui, 1-11. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2018. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22as_a_stranger_give_it_welcome_-_shakespeare_s_advice_for_first_year_college_students22_2018.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.Something is Rotten in the United States of America: Mass Shootings as Tragedy.” The Smart Set (2018). Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22something_is_rotten_in_the_united_states_of_america_-_mass_shootings_as_tragedy22_2018.pdf
2017
Wilson, Jeffrey R.‘To be, or not to be’: Shakespeare Against Philosophy.” Shakespeare 14, no. 4 (2017): 341-59. Publisher's VersionAbstract
This essay hazards a new reading of the most famous passage in Western literature: “To be, or not to be” from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. With this line, Hamlet poses his personal struggle, a question of life and death, as a metaphysical problem, as a question of existence and nothingness. However, “To be, or not to be” is not what it seems to be. It seems to be a representation of tragic angst, yet a consideration of the context of the speech reveals that “To be, or not to be” is actually a satire of philosophy and Shakespeare’s representation of the theatricality of everyday life. In this essay, a close reading of the context and meaning of this passage leads into an attempt to formulate a Shakespearean image of philosophy.
jeffrey_r._wilson_22to_be_or_not_to_be_-_shakespeare_against_philosophy22_2017.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.‘When evil deeds have their permissive pass’: Broken Windows in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.” Law and the Humanities 11, no. 2 (2017): 160-83. Publisher's Version jeffrey_r._wilson_22when_evil_deeds_have_their_permissive_pass-_broken_windows_in_william_shakespeares_measure_for_measure22_2017.pdf
Wilson, Jeffrey R.The Trouble With Disability in Shakespeare Studies.” Disability Studies Quarterly 37, no. 2 (2017). Publisher's VersionAbstract
This article reviews some instances of disability in Shakespeare's works and some instances of Disability Studies in Shakespeare studies. Contrary to the claims of the Disabled Shakespeares project, there is no historical basis for the modern language of "disability" in Shakespeare's texts, as illustrated with a philology of the term; this does not, however, invalidate the viable uses of disability theory in Shakespeare studies. Developing a typology of these uses (historical, methodological, critical, theoretical), this article discusses the opportunities and liabilities of each approach but concludes that a better vocabulary can be found in Erving Goffman's theory of stigma (which inspired Disability Studies but, in many ways, is more conceptually and ethically buoyant). The main goal in this article is not to argue against a Disability Studies approach to Shakespeare but, instead, to use those readings as evidence of the imperfect even if well-intentioned ways we respond to the encounter with stigma in Shakespeare's works – a phenomenon of literary criticism that is remarkably resonant with the similarly imperfect even if well-intentioned ways we respond to the encounter with stigma in our everyday lives.
jeffrey_r._wilson_22the_trouble_with_disability_in_shakespeare_studies22_2017.pdf

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