I’m assembling a collection of essays for a general audience on cross-currents between Shakespeare’s plays and modern culture. Most recently, I published “‘Who will believe thee?’: What Shakespeare Shows Us about Sexual Misconduct in the Current Climate” (in Hinterland), which explores the quid pro quo sexual harassment in Measure for Measure as an instance that could have occurred yesterday. Have we made much progress on this front in the last four hundred years? Why does such bad behavior keep circulating? What can be done about it?
Other essays in the collection include “Big Love,” about the nature of love in Shakespeare’s plays and whether that love has relevance today (published in The Hudson Review and named a Notable Essay for 2015 by the editor of Best American Essays, 2016); “Return Engagement: The Haunting of Hamlet and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.” (published in Shenandoah and recipient of the Thomas Carter Prize); and “‘Who will believe thee?’: What Shakespeare Shows Us about Sexual Misconduct in the Current Climate” (published in Hinterland).
