Professional Bio
Thomas Anderson specializes in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature, especially drama. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Shakespeare and the first half of the British literature survey. His recent graduate classes have focused on staged violence in Renaissance revenge drama and on the implications of “presentists” critical approaches to the study of Shakespeare. He recently finished two essays on Julie Taymor’s film version of Titus Andronicus—one that looks closely at the film’s representation of the play’s children and a second that focuses on Taymor’s cinematic image of Lavinia as a transformation of the literary blazon. He has recently co-edited (with Ryan Netzley) Acts of Reading: Interpretation, Reading Practices, and the Idea of the Book in John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments, which considers the theoretical implications of the important hypertext edition of Actes and Monuments.
Education:
Ph.D. 2002 Vanderbilt University
M.A. 2000 Vanderbilt University
M.A. 1998 Pennsylvania State University
B.A. 1990 English Literature, History, Vanderbilt University
Teaching Interests:
Shakespeare, Critical Theory, Early Modern British Literature
Recent Courses:
- Shakespeare and Presentism
- In the Beginning: Shakespeare Before 1599
- Shakespeare After 1600
- Reading with Intention: Contemporary Literary Theory
- Sixteenth-Century British Literature
- Renaissance Revenge Tragedy (Graduate)
Publications:
Books
Performing Early Modern Trauma from Shakespeare to Milton (Ashgate, 2006). Reviewed in Shakespeare Quarterly, Comparative Drama, Studies in English Literature, Sewanee Review, Review of English Studies, Renaissance Quarterly, College Literature, Shakespeare Survey.
(For a review of my book: Shakespeare Quarterly: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/shakespeare_quarterly/v057/57.4hirschfeld.html)
“Anderson's work is striking... engages a wide swath of English Renaissance literature and history with theoretical insight and sensitivity to close detail... this book offers a substantial correction to contextualizing scholarship by tackling the literary presentation of history from a theoretical – principally psychoanalytic – perspective, weaves together an impressive array of texts, and provides original, sharp close readings.” Shakespeare Quarterly
“… each of the book's chapters offers the reader illuminating readings that are as attentive to the literary as to the historical in their working out of the overall argument's logic… Anderson's book will be of interest not only to scholars working in the field of early modern English literature and culture but also to those who are interested in the intersection of trauma theory and pre-twentieth-century history.” Renaissance Quarterly
“Anderson's highly stimulating book thoughtfully engages with contemporary theory at the same as it shows the author’s in-depth knowledge of a range of early modern English authors…” College Literature
“The book is painstakingly researched and thoroughly supported, providing both comprehensive notes and detailed bibliography… it contributes interesting lines of inquiry into the performance of memory and history in early modern drama and contextualizes in the collective memory works often overlooked in favor of more popular texts. It is an apt memorial to early modern theatre.” Sixteenth Century Journal
Acts of Reading: Interpretation, Reading Practices, and the Idea of the Book in John Foxe's Actes and Monuments, co-editor with Ryan Netzley (U of Delaware P, 2010).
"Each contributor brings a special mastery to his or her essay, suggesting that a genuine conversation [about Foxe] between peers is now possible . . . . offers scholars of Foxe and students new to his work a set of valuable examinations of the Book of Martyrs." Clio
"This valuable collection serves a dual purpose: it illuminates the many challenges and opportunities created by interpreting Foxe's monumental book both in a digital age and in his own culture. " Studies in English Literature
Articles and Book Chapters
“‘Here’s a Strange Alteration!’: Friendship, Sovereignty and ‘Perpetual Spoil’ in Coriolanus.” Under Consideration.
“‘Ay me, this object kills me!’ Julie Taymor’s Cinematic Blazon in Titus.” In Staging the Blazon in Early Modern Theater (Ashgate, 2013). 25 ms pages.
"Surpassing the King's Two Bodies in Marlowe's Edward II: Perpetual Sovereignty and the Specter of the Royal Funeral Effigy" (Under Review, 40 ms pages).
“Titus, Broadway, and Disney’s Magic Capitalism, Or the Wonderful World of Julie Taymor.” College Literature. 40.1 (2013): 66-95. (For Project muse subscription holders:
http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.msstate.edu/journals/college_literature/v040/40.1.anderson.html )
“Rue with a Difference: A Stylistic Analysis of the Rhetoric of Suicide in Hamlet.” Co-authored with Scott Crossley. In Language and Style in Shakespeare: New Insights, eds. Jonathan Culpepper and Mireille Ravassat (Continuum Press, 2011) Pp 192-214.
“Transmuting the Book: A Theory of the Archive and the Search for Origins in Foxe’s Actes & Monuments.” In Acts of Reading: Interpretation, Reading Practices, and the Idea of the Book in John Foxe's Actes and Monuments. Pp 31-50 (U of Delaware P, 2010).
“Introduction: Actes of Reading.” Co-authored with Ryan Netzley. In Acts of Reading: Interpretation, Reading Practices, and the Idea of the Book in John Foxe's Actes and Monuments. Pp 11-28. (University of Delaware P, 2010).
“Writing Royal Effigies in the Poetry of Webster and Marvell.” 35.3 (2005) English Literary Renaissance. Pp. 507-531.“‘All Things Visible in Heaven, Or Earth’: Reading the Illustrations of the 1688 Edition of Paradise Lost.”38.3 (2004) Milton Quarterly. Pp. 157-81. [PDF]
“Class, Class Consciousness, and the Specter of Marx in Shakespeare’s History Plays.” Literature Compass. 1.1 (2004). Pp. 1-11.“‘Legitimation, Name, and All Is Gone’: Bastardy and Bureaucracy in Shakespeare’s King John.” 4.2 (2004). Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies. Pp. 35-61.
“‘What Is Written Shall Be Executed’: Nude Contracts and ‘Lively Warrants’ in Titus Andronicus.” 45.3 (2003). Criticism. Pp. 301-321. ( For JSTOR subscription holders: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/criticism/v045/45.3anderson.html)
Professional Honors and Awards:
- Research Fellowship, The Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of Tennessee, July, 2013.
- Dean's Eminent Scholar Award from the College of Arts and Sciences, 2011-2012
- Humanities Researcher of the Year, College of Arts & Sciences, Mississippi State University, 2010.
- Outstanding Faculty Award. Shackouls Honors College, MSU.
- Department of English, Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Career. Vanderbilt University.
- Award for Outstanding Teaching, Graduate Instructor in the College of Arts & Science, 2001. Vanderbilt University.
Professional Service:
- Book Review Editor, Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies
- Ad Hoc Referee
- Early Modern Literary Studies
- Digital Studies/Le champ numérique
