Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 500+ posts. While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently.
So, we’re highlighting periodically some of the posts that have garnered a lot of views or that address topics of continuing interest in the current moment — posts that you may have missed or that you might want to revisit.
Today, as we look forward to this Friday’s lecture by Dr. Jonathan Lamb (BA ’04) on his recent book How the World Became a Book in Shakespeare’s England (2025), we look back to a post from May celebrating the release of Professor Emeritus Don Hedrick’s new book Shakespeare and Fun: The Birth of Entertainment Value.
As Associate Professor and fellow Renaissance scholar Kara Northway explains,
Shakespeare and Fun offers a timely response to the latest historical investigations of what English theatergoing was like in the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-centuries.[…] Given the proximity of the theaters to recreational activities in their neighborhoods, including animal-baiting, gambling, eating, and sports, the performances of Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and other works took on additional meanings. As Don Hedrick argues in his book, the dialogue and actions in these plays can be productively reinterpreted to reveal how Shakespeare maximized their competitive entertainment value for his audiences.
See the full post at “Shakespeare and Fun” to learn more about last May’s event, and then join us this Friday December 5 —
… to learn more about Shakespeare with Jonathan Lamb!
— Karin Westman, Department Head
K-State English 