ADAM ZUCKER
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of English Associate Professor, 2011-present. Assistant Professor, 2004-2011.
EDUCATION
MA (1997), MPhil (2000), PhD (2004). Columbia University, Department of English and Comparative Literature.
B.A. (1994). Brown University, Department of English; granted with honors.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Shakespeare Unlearned: Pedantry, Nonsense, and the Philology of Stupidity (Oxford University Press, 2024).
The Places of Wit in Early Modern English Comedy (Cambridge University Press, 2011; paperback 2014). Shortlisted for The Globe Theatre Book Award, 2012.
Historical Affects and the Early Modern Theater (Routledge, 2015). Collection of essays written in honor of Jean E. Howard; co-edited with Ronda Arab and Michelle Dowd.
Localizing Caroline Drama: Politics and Economics of the Early Modern English Stage, 1625-1642. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Collection co-edited with Alan B. Farmer.
Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Arden Shakespeare, 4th series. (Under contract).
Essays and Book Chapters
“Understanding Laughter” in Jason Scott-Warren and Andrew Zurcher, eds. The Oxford Handbook to Early Modern English Poetry (Oxford UP, forthcoming).
“Gross” in Marjorie Rubright and Stephen Spiess, eds. Logomotives (Edinburgh UP, forthcoming).
“Postscript: The Open Street.” In The London Journal 47, 1 (2022), 127-33. Special issue on “London as Theatrical Space”, Tracey Hill and Andrew Gordon, eds.
“Pedantic Ben Jonson” in Martin Butler and Jane Rickard, eds. Ben Jonson and Posterity: Reception, Reputation, Legacy (Cambridge UP, 2020), 44-62.
“Vexed and Insatiable: Unfeelable Feelings and the Marketplace of Early Modern Drama,” in Rebecca Tomlin and Subha Mukherji, eds. Change and Exchange: Literature and Economics in Early Modern England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), 91-111.
“Baffling Twelfth Night” and response essays in Subha Mukherji, ed. Blindspots of Knowledge (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Press, 2019), pp. 31-38;156-8; 199-201.
“Antihonorificabilitudinitatibus: Love’s Labour’s Lost and Unteachable Words.” In Shakespeare Survey 70 (2017): 135-45.
“Space and Place in Early Modern Drama” in Thomas Hopper and Arthur Kinney, eds. A New Companion To Renaissance Drama (Wiley Blackwell, 2017), 501-12.
“Twelfth Night and the Philology of Nonsense.” Renaissance Studies 30, 1 (2016): 88-101.
“Introduction” in Historical Affects and the Early Modern Theater (Routledge, 2015), with Ronda Arab and Michelle Dowd.
“Later Shakespeare.” In Arthur Kinney, ed. The Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare (Oxford University Press, 2012).
“London and Urban Space.” In Julie Sanders, ed. Ben Jonson in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 97-107.
“The Social Stakes of Gambling in Early Modern London.” In Amanda Bailey and Roze Hentschell, eds, Masculinity and the Metropolis of Vice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 65-86.
“Introduction” in Localizing Caroline Drama: Politics and Economics of the Early Modern English Stage (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), with Alan B. Farmer.
“Laborless London: Comic Form and the Space of the Town in Caroline Covent Garden.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 5.2 (Winter, 2005), 94-119.
“The Social Logic of Ben Jonson’s Epicoene.” Renaissance Drama 33 (2004), 37-62.
Reviews
Lynne Magnusson with David Schalkwyk, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s Language (Cambridge University Press 2019). In Shakespeare Studies 49 (2021), 317-22.
Patricia Parker, Shakespearean Intersections: Language, Contexts, Critical Keywords (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018). In Renaissance Quarterly 72, 4 (2019), 1583-4.
“The Ambitious New Arden List.” Kritikon Litterarum, 44 (2017): 329-33.
Jessica Dyson, Staging Authority in Caroline England (Ashgate, 2013). In Renaissance Quarterly 67, 4 (2015): 1479-81.
Will Stockton, Playing Dirty: Sexuality and Waste in Early Modern Comedy (University of Minnesota Press, 2011). In Shakespeare Studies 42 (2014): 317-21.
Martin Wiggins, Drama and the Transfer of Power in Renaissance England (Oxford UP, 2012). In Comparative Drama 47, 3 (2013): 400-2.
Anne Lancashire, London Civic Theatre: City Drama and Pageantry from Roman Times to 1558 (Cambridge University Press, 2002). In ALBION 36, 1 (Spring, 2004): 100-102.
Digital Resources
Commentary Stream. Folger Library Luminary Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ellen Mackay, ed. Available as of December 2013 for Ipad.
“Laughing at Shakespeare.” Entry on Cambridge University Press Author Blog. May, 2011.
“Hyde Park.” Web Resource: Politics, Literary Culture and Theatrical Media in London. R. Malcolm Smuts, et al. eds.
Contributor to Folger Library “Shakespeare Unlimited” Podcast, “All Mirth and No Matter.”
AWARDS, HONORS, GRANTS
Scholar-In-Residence/Faculty, NEH Teaching Shakespeare Institute. Folger Shakespeare Library, Summer 2018.
UMass College of Humanities and Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award, 2012-13.
Francis Bacon Fellowship. Huntington Library, 2012.
Lilly Teaching Fellowship. UMass, 2007-2008.
W. M. Keck/Mellon Research Fellowship. Huntington Library, 2004.
Thorsen Fellowship. Columbia University. 2001-2002.
Presidential Fellowship. Columbia University. 1997-2000, 2002-2003.
SELECTED TALKS AND PAPERS DELIVERED
Invited Speaker, “The Soundwork of Canonical Nonsense.” Newberry Library, Stop Making Sense Symposium. May 2022.
“The Poetic Soundwork of Adaptation and Translation: The Tempest and its Echoes.” Modern Language Association conference, January 2022.
Invited Speaker, “Macbeth Without Ambition.” Folger Education Lecture Series, April 2021.
“Stupidity’s Capacities.” Panel Presenter “Shakespearean In/Capacities.” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. April 2021.
Invited Speaker, “Shakespeare and Stupidity.” Medieval and Early Modern Studies Seminar, Leeds University, UK. November, 2020.
Invited Speaker. “Gross Matter: Shakespeare and the Politics of Stupidity.” Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University. October, 2019.
Invited Speaker. “Windsor Unlearned.” Q1 Merry Wives of Windsor Conference, Ohio State University. Columbus, OH. April 2018.
“Gross Politics.” Renaissance Society of America Conference. New Orleans, March 2018.
Invited Speaker. “Thomas Nashe and the Performance of Pedantry.” Thomas Nashe and His Contemporaries Symposium. Folger Shakespeare Library, September 2017.
Invited Speaker, Columbia University Department of English, Early Modern Graduate Student Colloquium. New York, April 2017.
Invited Speaker, University of Pennsylvania Med/Ren Seminar. Philadelphia, March 2017.
Invited Speaker. “Pedantic Ben Jonson.” Huntington Library Conference “Ben Jonson: 1616-2016.” San Marino, CA. September, 2016
“Antihonorificabilitudinitatibus.” World Shakespeare Congress. London. August 2016.
Plenary Speaker. “Sensible in the Duller Parts: Pedantry, Nonsense, and the Text of Love’s Labour’s Lost.” Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association meeting. Albuquerque, NM. June 2016.
“Shakespeare’s 1623 Folio: Making Sense of Its Nonsense.” Jones Library, Amherst MA, May 2016. Public talk part of “First Folio!” programming for Folger Library’s display.
“Querci Shakespeareani: Shakespeare’s Oaks.” Inaugural Normand Berlin Lecture, MA Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies. May, 2016. (Talk given at the dedication of an oak tree in honor of Normand Berlin.)
Invited Speaker. “Vexed and Insatiable: Unfeelable Feelings and the Theater of the Early Modern Market.” Change and Exchange Conference/CRASSH; Cambridge University, UK. April 30, 2016.
Invited Speaker. “Pedantry, Nonsense, and the Text of Love’s Labours Lost.” Princeton University Renaissance Colloquium. Princeton, NJ. February, 2016.
“Castiliano Vulgo!: Or, How to Believe in Nothing.” Modern Language Association Conference. Austin, TX. January, 2016.
“Love’s Labour’s Lost and the Pedagogy of Incomprehensibility.” Blackfriars Conference; American Shakespeare Center; Staunton, VA, October, 2015.
Seminar Organizer, “Error in Early Modern Studies I and II,” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. Vancouver BC, April 2015.
Invited Participant. “Twelfth Night and the Philology of Nonsense.” Gossip and Nonsense Symposium, King’s College London, June 2014.
Invited Speaker, “Twelfth Night and the Broken Jest,” Indiana University, October 2013; Columbia University, March 2014; UMass Boston, April 2014. Shorter versions of paper presented at the Renaissance Society of America. San Diego, CA. April, 2013; Shakespeare Association of America. Toronto, ONT, March 2013.
Invited Speaker, “Ben Jonson and the Game of Culture.” USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, April, 2012.
Invited Seminar Respondent, “No Respect: Re-theorizing Comic Theory for Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. Boston, MA, April, 2012.
Invited Seminar Participant, “Jest-Book Idiocy.” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. Bellevue, WA, April 2011.
Invited Speaker. “Cultural Competencies and Comic Form in Shakespeare’s England.” Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University. Cambridge MA, January, 2010.
Invited Speaker. “Cultural Competencies and Comic Form in Caroline London.” Huntington Library Conference, “Representing Politics on the Shakespearean Stage.” San Marino, CA, September, 2009.
Seminar co-director. “The Merry Wives of Winsdor.” With Mary Ellen Lamb. SAA Conference. Washington DC, April 2009.
Invited Speaker. “Cultural Competencies and Comic Form in Early Modern England.” Columbia University. New York, NY, May, 2008.
“The Social Stakes of Gambling in Early Modern London.” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. Dallas, TX, April, 2008.
Session Organizer and Presenter. Plenary Session for the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America: “Historical Formalism in Shakespeare Studies.” Paper title: “Shakespeare’s Green Materials: Local Fantasy and The Merry Wives of Windsor.” San Diego, CA, April, 2007.
“The Pales of Hyde Park.” Paper selected by the North American Society for Court Studies. Renaissance Society of America Conference. Miami, FL, March, 2007.
Invited Presenter. “The Pales of Hyde Park: Cultural Competence and the Rise of Urban Pastoral in Early Modern Comedy.” Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, October, 2006.
“Cultural Competence and the Material Green World in The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Five Colleges Renaissance Seminar, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies. Amherst, MA, April, 2006.
“’Of Nothing Commeth Nothing’: Chance and Economic Fantasy from Boethius to Bourdieu.” Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies Conference, San Antonio, TX, December, 2005.
Invited Speaker. “Laborless London: Covent Garden and the Caroline Town.” University of Massachusetts, Boston. April, 2005.
“Living in a Material Green World.” Renaissance Society of America Conference. Cambridge, UK, April, 2005.
“Marketplace Miracle Plays.” Modern Language Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA, December, 2004.
Panel Organizer and Presenter. “Sense Perception and the Early Modern Market.” Paper title: “Three Shops Open in a Rank: Commercial Practice as Spatial Practice in Early Modern London.” Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies Conference. Orlando, FL, November, 2004.
“Shakespeare’s Idiots.” Renaissance Society of America Conference. New York, NY, April, 2004.
“Hyde Park and the Location of Leisure in Early Modern London.” Shakespeare Association of America Conference. New Orleans, LA, April, 2004.
Invited Speaker. “Covent Garden’s ‘Belconies’ On Stage and Off: Constructing an Urban Elite in Caroline London.” Urban Structures in the Medieval and Early Modern World Conference. Columbia University, NY, April, 2003.
“Wit and the Social Logic of Ben Jonson’s Epicoene.” Modern Language Association Conference. New York, NY, December, 2002. Paper also presented April, 2002. SAA Conference, Minneapolis, MN.
SERVICE
Professional Service
Co-editor, English Literary Renaissance, 2019-present. Associate Editor, English Literary Renaissance, 2018-19. Member, Editorial Board, English Literary Renaissance, 2005-2018.
Member, Editorial Board, Renaissance Drama, 2013-present.
Elected Member, MLA Forum Executive Committee: 16th-Century English, 2017-2022.
Member, Program Committee for Shakespeare Association of America, 2009-10.
Member, Nominating Committee for Shakespeare Association of America, 2014-15.
Member, Sexual Harassment Policy Taskforce for Shakespeare Association of America, 2015-16
Co-director, Five Colleges Renaissance Seminar, 2006-2019.
Ad hoc reviewer of submissions for Cambridge UP; Oxford UP; Manchester UP; Fordham UP; Ashgate Press; Palgrave Macmillan; Broadview Press; Routledge Press; PMLA; Shakespeare; Renaissance Studies; Law and Literature; HLQ.
Editorial Advisor, “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The Norton Shakespeare, 3rd ed. (2015).
Editorial Advisor, Gale/Cengage Shakespearean Criticism Series, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” (2014); “Twelfth Night” (2020).
University Service
Member, University of Massachusetts Press Faculty Committee, 2021.
Member, Curriculum Committee, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, 2008-2012.
Member, Committee for the Selection of CHFA Teaching Award, 2009, 2013.
Member, University Committee for the Selection of Student Commencement Speaker, 2006-present.
Member, Advisory Board, Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, 2005-present.
Departmental Service
Director of Undergraduate Studies, 2023-present.
Department Personnel Committee, 2012-14; 2017-19; 2020-present; Chair, 2013-14, 2017-18.
Chair’s Advisory Committee, 2015-17.
Graduate Studies Committee, 2004-6; 2009-2011; Chair, 2009-2011.
Graduate Fellowship Committee, 2016; 2017.
Graduate Admissions Committee, 2005.
Undergraduate Studies Committee, 2007-2009; Chair, 2008-9.
Early Modern Search Committee, 2016-17.
Rhetoric and Composition Search Committee Chair, 2014-15.
Fiction Writing Search Committee, 2005-6; 2012-13.
COURSES TAUGHT Undergraduate
English 198: Bad Shakespeare?
English 201/201H: Major British Writers I (Beowulf to 1700)
English 221: Shakespeare (enrollment: 100-120 students)
English 298A: Shakespeare on Film
English 326: Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama
English 300: Early Modern Women’s Writing
English 300: The History of Comedy (from Aristophanes to Zadie Smith)
English 300: Tudor and Stuart Poetry
English 421/421H: Advanced Shakespeare
English 491: Forming Urbanity: The City in Literature
English 492: Renaissance Genres and Modern Fantasy [from Spenser to LeGuin]
Graduate
English 591CC: Shakespeare, Jonson, Marlowe: Political Theater in Early Modern England
English 791K: 17th Century Drama: Renaissance, Revolt, and Restoration
English 791T: Early Modern Lyric Poetry English
791V: Drama and Poetry of the English Renaissance (Plays by Poets/Poems by Playwrights)
English 891VM: Vibrant Matter: Environment and Object on the Early Modern Stage
English 891SN: Sounded Encounters: Local and Global Exchanges in Early Modern Literature
English 891EE: Theatrical Space and Social Relations in Early Modern England: Home, City, Globe
English 891JJ: Material Culture and Early Modern English Drama
English 891DJ: Competence and Social Change in Early Modern Drama
English 891SE: City Stage and Urban Satire in Early Modern Drama