English 891SF - S-Shakespeare's Spec Fictions

How do Shakespeare's plays offer models for speculative methods of thinking, reading, and writing? In what ways do they demonstrate fiction's capacity to expand the limits of possibility to reimagine what could have been, what could still be, and what might yet come? And how might they serve as tools for developing a critical practice that sees beyond the authority of history, the facts of empirical knowledge, and the imperializing structures of space and time? This course pairs a rich sampling of Shakespeare's plays (including some of his less canonical plays) with historical and theoretical readings ranging from Catherine Gallagher on counterfactuals, to Jose Esteban Mu?oz on queering futurity, to Saidiya Hartman on critical fabulation, to Aimee Bahng on decolonizing speculation. Together, we will consider how the imaginative and performative elements of Shakespeare's plays offer unique models of speculation and serve as springboards for incorporating speculation into our creative and critical practices. We will also give special consideration to the politics of speculation and how it can be mobilized for decolonial, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and other justice-oriented work. Likely plays include: Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, and Troilus and Cressida. Assignments will be geared around professionalization and will offer opportunities to produce a conference paper, an abstract, a book review, and an article, as well as creative-critical options.

Open to Graduate students only.