Mark Sherman

Professor
BA, University of Rhode Island
MA, University of Rhode Island
PHD, University of Rhode Island
Mark Sherman’s CV

Whenever he is asked what he teaches at RISD, Mark Sherman tries to keep it simple by responding, “Old stuff.” He is interested in intertextual exchanges among narrative poets, and his primary topics of inquiry are located, geographically, between England and Italy, and historically between the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

How writers in these various zones employed the literature of antiquity (Roman in particular) is central to Sherman’s thinking as well, so his scholarship tends to focus on questions of historicity and ideology, cultural exchange and transformation, as well as the evolving relationships among gender, representation, authority and violence that feed into ideas of modernity. Few poetic genres register this complex of issues quite so well as the epic, and he teaches several courses in which epic poetry figures prominently.

Sherman’s recent research has taken up questions of political theology and post-Copernican cosmology in early modern writers and how a radically altered view of creation informed their ethical, political and artistic perspectives.

Fall 2024 Courses

LAS E101-03 - FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E101-03

FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: TTH | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PM Instructor(s): Mark Sherman Location(s): College Building, Room 301 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

LAS E101-04 - FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E101-04

FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: TTH | 2:50 PM - 4:20 PM Instructor(s): Mark Sherman Location(s): College Building, Room 301 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

An introduction to literary study that helps students develop the skills necessary for college-level reading, writing, research and critical thinking. Through exposure to a variety of literary forms and genres, historical periods and critical approaches, students are taught how to read closely, argue effectively and develop a strong writing voice. The course is reading and writing intensive and organized around weekly assignments. There are no waivers for LAS-E101 except for transfer students who have taken an equivalent college course.

First-year Students are pre-registered for this course by the department.

Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Transfer Students register into designated section(s).

Major Requirement | BFA

LAS E360-01 - RADICAL THEATER: BRECHT & AFTER
Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

LAS E360-01

RADICAL THEATER: BRECHT & AFTER

Level Undergraduate
Unit Literary Arts and Studies
Subject Literary Arts and Studies
Period Fall 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-09-04 to 2024-12-11
Times: W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Mark Sherman Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Fascism got you down? Tired of endless war? Wondering how art could possibly stand up to--let alone subvert--the predations of big-time capitalism and its police state? Unfortunately, these are not new questions. Fortunately, they have been taken on directly by some modern dramatic innovators, among the first of whom was Bertolt Brecht (Germany, 1898-1956). Playwright, director, theorist and provocateur, Brecht drew on popular, traditional forms, which he deployed in response to the crises of his times in order to rewrite the theatrical rulebook. The course will study Brecht's major works along with some of his theoretical writings before looking at the legacy of Brechtian theater among diverse playwrights such as Dario Fo & Franca Rame, David Hare, Caryl Churchill, Alecky Blythe, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Sarah Kane, Suzan-Lori Parks, Mark Ravenhill, Jeremy O. Harris.

Elective

BA, University of Rhode Island
MA, University of Rhode Island
PHD, University of Rhode Island
Mark Sherman’s CV