On Page and Stage: Shakespeare, 1590-1890

The Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies – Bangor-Aberystwyth, the British Shakespeare Association and the School of English, Bangor University, are pleased to announce On Page and Stage: Shakespeare, 1590-1890 8th December 2012 – a one-day conference at Bangor University

Conference Organisers: Stephen Colclough & Andrew Hiscock Guest Speaker: Professor Andrew Gurr (Reading University) Shakespeare editor and author of Playgoing in Shakespeare’s London This one-day conference focuses upon performances, interpretations and publications of Shakespeare in the pre-modern period in the UK and beyond. It is envisaged that delegates will be addressing this subject from a number of disciplinary perspectives and presentations on the following subjects would be particularly welcome: • Shakespearean Performances 1590-1890s and Performance Reportage • Shakespearean Theatre History 1590-1890 • World Shakespeares 1590-1890 • Critical Responses to Shakespeare 1590-1890: e.g. journalism, diaries, correspondence • Reading Shakespeare 1590-1890: e.g. criticism, education, annotated editions • Material Shakespeare 1590-1890: mise-en-scène and mise-en-page • Shakespeare as Political Icon 1590-1890 These and other related subjects will be considered for presentation at this conference. Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be sent to the conference organising committee at shakespeare@bangor.ac.uk no later than Friday 12th October 2012. All abstracts should include the proposer’s name, title, mailing address, email address, institutional affiliation, student/employed status.

Women's writing

The English Department at Warwick University will shortly be offering a fully-funded PhD studentship on

in the early modern period. Look out for advertisements on jobs.ac.uk and the Warwick website. The deadline will be 26th July.

Witches!

Call For Papers: Preternature Volume 3:1 
The Early Modern Witch (1450-1700) The publication of early witchcraft texts created witches by creating controversy about them. Witch-dramas, pamphlets, testimonies about witch-encounters, sermons, and accounts of trials published the anxieties, recounted the long standing suspicions, and sensationalised the physical manifestations that made women into witches. Sometimes accompanied by woodcuts, many texts insisted on the reality, materiality, and immediacy of witches and their familiars. In these, the early modern witch was represented as both a perpetrator of violence and the victim of it. The early modern witch is a fascinating enigma: a legal entity and a neighbourhood resource or nuisance, she purportedly engaged in natural and supernatural forms of wisdom with the potential to heal or harm others, or even herself. The words she spoke, mumbled could become malefic by intent, if not by content. According to the sensationalist constructions of witchcraft, her body was contaminated by the magics she used: she fed familiars with blood, grew spare parts, could not weep, and would not sink. In accounts focused on bewitchment and possessions, the witch vomited pins or personified pollution and a culturally legitimate cunning-person such as a physician or minister or exorcist acted as curative. Despite the skepticism about witches that followed Reginald Scot’s assertions and the decline of legal examinations trials, the early modern witch has remained a vital force in the cultural imagination. Witchcraft remain the focus of academic articles, scholarly volumes, digital resources, archaeological digs, children's and teenage fiction, popular media and museum studies.

This issue of Preternature, in association with the “Capturing Witches” conference, invites contributions from any discipline that highlight the cultural, literary, religious, or historical significance of the early modern witch. Contributions should be roughly 8,000 - 12,000 words, including all documentation and critical apparatus, and adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing endnotes). Contributions must be submitted through the Preternature CMS. Deadline for final submissions is November 30, 2012. Queries about journal scope and submissions can be made to the Editor, Dr. Kirsten C. Uszkalo. Queries concerning books to be reviewed can be made to the Book Reviews Editor, Dr. Richard Raiswell. Queries concerning this special volume can be sent to Professor Alison Findlay (a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk) and Dr. Liz Oakley-Brown (e.oakley-brown@lancaster.ac.uk). Full journal style guides are available at http://preternature.org. Information on the early English witch can be found at the WEME project at http://witching.org. Details on the “Capturing Witches” conference can be found at http://www.transculturalwriting.com/?page_id=1535 Preternature is a bi-annual publication, published through Penn State Press, and available in print or electronically through JSTOR, Project Muse, and as a Kindle e- book.

Postdoc ...

The Map of Early Modern London (MoEML) project invites applications for a post-doctoral fellowship valued at $32,500 per year for up to two years. The successful applicant will be expected to join the project on site in Victoria, BC, and work closely with the project director, developers, and research assistants in the next phase of MoEML's development. He or she will take a leading role in the ongoing identification of all the features of the Agas Map (Civitas Londinum); textual and critical work on the map; ongoing work on the encyclopedia of early modern streets and sites; and the editing, markup, annotation, and creation of a critical apparatus for a versioned edition of the 1598, 1603,1633, and modern texts of John Stow's A Survey of London. The successful applicant will also be encouraged to work on related projects, to bring his or her particular research interests to MoEML, and to help shape MoEML's future. Applicants need to have a strong background in the literature of early modern London, preferably in textual criticism, drama, chronicle histories, civic literature, pageantry, and/or the geohumanities. Facility with literary computing and some knowledge of TEI are essential. Experience with editing, historical or literary GIS, and databases is desirable. MoEML is an established project with SSHRC funding and ongoing technical support from the Humanities Computing and Media Centre at the University of Victoria. MoEML is directed by Janelle Jenstad (Department of English, University of Victoria), and overseen by advisory and editorial boards. The summary from MoEML's SSHRC Insight Grant can be found at mapoflondon.uvic.ca/SSHRC2012.htm. The University of Victoria is committed to providing an environment that protects and promotes the human rights of all persons and and affirms the dignity of all persons. MoEML is committed to honouring the Collaborators' Bill of Rights. Enquiries and applications may be sent to MoEML via Janelle Jenstad at jenstad@uvic.ca. Electronic application packages should include a statement of relevant experience, a full CV, reference letters (or the names of referees), and links to the applicant's projects and publications. All applications received by July 17, 2012 will be acknowledged. Interviews will be conducted via Skype the following week.