Voltaire and the French Enlightenment
Literature
The American Gothic
Searching for Ophelia in the Archive
What does the archive offer for the exploration of Shakespeare in the digital age?
Beowulf: History, Legend, and Mythology
Religious Change and the Ottoman Empire, 1450-1750
What did the rise and expansion of the Ottoman Empire look like in the eyes of European observers? How did the Ottomans shape the political and religious history of early modern Europe?
Religious Change and Print Culture in the Reformation
How did the changes in religion during the Reformation shape the medium of print? How did religious leaders and thinkers attempt to interact with their audience(s)? How did the ways in which religious figures used print pave the way for modern mass media?
The Legacy of the Middle Ages in the Renaissance and Beyond
Daily Life in Early Modern France
How did handwritten documents shape life in the early modern period? What can these documents tell us about the experiences of early modern people?
Victorians and the Hidden Self: Cultural Contexts for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray
How did writers and audiences in late Victorian England and America explore the idea of a hidden or double self? In what ways did representations of this self speak to changing understandings of sexuality, gender, and class?
The American Renaissance in Context
What was the literary context in which American Renaissance writers wrote and published? How did now-canonical writers respond to popular literary forms?
Literature of the American Civil War
What literature was published and read during the Civil War? How did literature help make sense of the war and the profound changes it brought to the nation?
The World of Don Quixote
How did Cervantes’ Don Quixote respond to the social conditions and literary traditions of early modern Spain?