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Dr. Michael Friedman

Professor

 

B.A., Tulane University
M.A., Ph.D., Boston University

 

 

Dr. Michael Friedman teaches courses in Shakespeare, Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and Drama at the University of Scranton. He is the author of "The World Must Be Peopled". Shakespeare's Comedies of Forgiveness (2002) and the volume devoted to Titus Andronicus in the Shakespeare and Performance Series published by Manchester University Press (2013). His articles on Shakespeare in performance have appeared in such journals as Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Bulletin, Literature/Film Quarterly, and Studies in English Literature. He has acted in and directed several productions of Shakespeare's comedies, including The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labor's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Taming of the Shrew. 

2023: "I am currently working on two scholarly articles about Patrick Somerville's HBO Max show Station Eleven, which is an adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's novel of the same name. In the first essay, I explore the way in which the television series uses Shakepeare to help present a muticultural future through references to the use of Shakespeare in the original Star Trek. In the second essay, I examine how the television series incorporates the novel's nostalgia for the technological advances of modern times, lost in a global pandemic, by showing how the world must not simply seek a return to the past, but must instead adapt the cultural heritage of the past to reconcile with the circumstances of the present."

Dr. Friedman currently teaches the following courses:

ENLT 122 Intro. to Drama

3 cr. (CL)

An exploration of the nature of drama, its types techniques, and conventions. The emphasis will be critical rather than historical. The range of plays and the specific selections may vary with the individual instructor. This course may be counted toward the theatre major, minor or track.

ENLT 136X FYS-Shakespeare One Play

3 cr. (FYS)

This course will structure all assignments around one Shakespeare play. Students will read the play carefully, commit to a topic, read literary criticism on the topic, write about that topic, discuss the play's connection to the Jesuit tradition, examine the play in performance, and perform speeches from the play.

ENLT 220 Shakespeare

3 cr. (CL)

An introduction to the works of William Shakespeare, including forays into each of the major dramatic genres (comedy, tragedy, history, and romance). Consideration will be given to the biographical and cultural contexts of individual works. This course may be counted toward the Theatre major, minor or track.

ENLT 231 Shakespeare's Comedies

3 cr. (CL, Prerequisite: One 100-level ENLT Course)

A consideration of Shakespeare's dramatic work in the comic sub-genres of romantic comedy, farce, and pastoral. Students will read seven plays, usually Two Gentlemen of Verona, Comedy of Errors, Love's Labor's Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It.

ENLT 232 Shakespeare's Tragedies

3 cr. (CL, Prerequisite: One 100-Level ENLT course)

A consideration of Shakespeare's dramatic work in the tragic sub-genres of revenge tragedy, romantic tragedy, decasibus tragedy, and political tragedy. Students will read seven plays, usually Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.

ENLT 240 British Literature: Medieval and Renaissance

3 cr. (Area B-1)

A detailed study of representative works nd authors from the Anglo-Saxons to the 17th century. Though the emphasis will be on an intensive study of major works in their literary and cultural context, consideration will be given to minor writers as well.

ENLT 341 ST: Shakespeare

3 cr. (CL, W, Theory Intensive)

A detailed study of Shakespeare's treatment of either a particular genre (comedy, tragedy, history, romance) or a particular subject that occurs across genres. Special attention will be paid to the meaning of plays in performance. This course may be counted toward the Theatre track or minor.

ENLT 343J Shakespeare Performed

3 cr. (CL, Prerequisite: PHIL 217J)

This course examines five Shakespeare plays (Much Ado about Nothing, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Merchant of Venice) from four different perspectives: as written texts, as scripts for staging, as screenplays for films, and as material for adaptation into modernized television shows or movies.

ENLT 490-491 Senior Seminar

3 cr. (W)

The topics of these writing-intensive seminars vary from semester to semester. Based largely on student writing, presentations, and discussions, this capstone course is required in the major and culminates in the student's development of a seminar paper. May be repeated for credit. Enrollment limited to 15 students per section.

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