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Michael West, Ph.D.

Michael West holds a Ph.D. in English from Columbia University, an M.A. from the University of Houston, and a B.A. from the University of Dallas. His book under review, Theater of the Obscure: Staging Enigma in the Age of Shakespeare, shows how and why these plays confused their audiences not by mistake, but by design. He has previously taught courses in literature, writing, and Catholic Studies at the University of Houston, Columbia University, and Sacred Heart University.

Areas of Expertise

Renaissance Literature, esp. Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Education

Ph.D., English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University (2018)
M.A., English, University of Houston (2009)
B.A. English and Politics, University of Dallas (2006)

Academic Appointments

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of English
  • Affiliate Assistant Professor, Departments of English and Humanities, University of Dallas (2019-Present)
  • Lecturer, Department of English, Columbia Univeristy (2018)
  • Lecturer, Departments of English and Catholic Studies, Sacred Heart University (2017-2018)

Selected Publications

  • "Hamlet's 'Inexplicable Dumb Shows' and the Pleasure of Enigma." Studies in English Literature 61.2 (Spring 2021).
  • "Were There Playgoers During the 1580s?" Shakespeare Studies 44 (2016)
  • "Wonder, Artifacts, and the Human in the Faerie Queene." Special Issue ("Spenser and the Human") of Spenser Studies 30 (2016)

Presentations

  • "Necromatic and Anachronic Renaissances," Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference. (March/April, 2023)
  • "Wisdom, Youth, and Age in King Lear," Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference. (April, 2022)
  • "'Alike in Dignity': Shakespeare and the Transformation of Human Dignity," Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Fall Conference (November, 2021)
  • "The Dilemma of Inessential Shakespeare," Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference (March/April, 2021)
  • "Teaching Difficulty," Shakespeare Association of America Annual Conference (April, 2020)