Visiting Assistant Professor
I am a Visiting Assistant Professor of English, teaching Shakespeare, early modern literature, and performance studies. My research explores cultural diplomacy in the early modern period— the circulation of literature, performance, and the arts as a strategy of international outreach. I ask how artists—and their art—might be said to mediate, negotiate, or represent, moving across boundaries of culture, language, and nation to reach new audiences in the early modern world. My current book project, Geopolitical Players: Diplomacy, Trade, and English Itinerant Theater in Early Modern Europe, examines the role of itinerant actors in international relations activity—traveling with ambassadors on state business, giving entertainment at diplomatic occasions, and at times participating in informal diplomacy, delivering messages and dealing in imported goods. I am interested in the social, cultural, and political negotiations that mark the lives and careers of itinerant actors, as well as their translation of styles, genres, texts, and performance techniques for international audiences speaking different languages and bringing different cultural fluencies. Other current projects address the relationship between diplomacy, music, and intelligence, and the interwoven economies of imported textiles and itinerant theater at the early modern city fairs. You can find examples of my work in a forthcoming issue of English Literary Renaissance and in Shakespeare Studies.
My research is focused on translation, adaptation, and transnational theater in early modernity, but my approach draws inspiration from scholarship in contemporary performance studies, including the insights of living theater practitioners reflecting on their own medium. I am always excited to discuss theater and performance studies with students, and we will be working in class with photo, audio, and video footage to more fully unpack the workings of embodied stagecraft. This fall, I am teaching English 363, “Shakespeare’s Worlds,” and an English 220 seminar, “Performing Voices in English-Language Literature.” You can reach me at eglider@bu.edu
Research Interests:
- Early modern literature and drama
- Translation, adaptation, and cultural exchange
- Traveling players and Commedia dell’Arte
- Embassy, diplomacy, and intelligencing
- Theater history and archival studies
- History of the book and material culture
- Performance studies
- Media studies