Mark Sherman
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.
Courses
Fall 2024 Courses
LAS E101-03
FIRST-YEAR LITERATURE SEMINAR
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
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
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
Spring 2025 Courses
LAS E343-01
SHAKESPEARE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
The name Shakespeare conveys a set of assumptions about style and eloquence in the English language, the course of European history, the power of dramatic literature, the protocols of theatrical performance and of Renaissance/Early Modern Culture in general--not to mention incontrovertible truths about the human condition. In this course, we will undertake a creatively critical examination of several plays in the context of 16th- and 17th-century political struggles, major ideological shifts, colonial expansion, literary movements, and the cultural place of the commercial theatre as a new and controversial space of representation that vigorously appropriated traditional narratives. Requirements for the course include regular short writing assignments, a modest research paper, a final examination, and (if possible) attendance at a local theatrical production.
Elective
LAS E362-01
THE PRACTICAL UTOPIAN: WILLIAM MORRIS'S MEDIEVALISM
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Late nineteenth-century designer, poet, scholar, ethical entrepreneur, architectural preservationist, aesthetic innovator and socialist revolutionary William Morris found much to use in the otherwise sorely abused Middle Ages. If the Victorian era in Britain (at the peak of its colonial empire and the explosion of industrial capitalism) cloaked itself in the nostalgia of the Gothic Revival, Morris might be considered a counter-revivalist for the way he mined the same medieval past - particularly “the calamitous fourteenth century” - to imagine a very different future than the one we eventually came to inhabit. This course will undertake a survey of the life and work of William Morris with particular attention given to his fusion of history and fantasy in the service of a radical political vision. Among the texts studied will be The Earthly Paradise, A Dream of John Ball, News from Nowhere along with historical and political treatises from Commonweal and critical studies of Morris and his circle. The course will include regular writing exercises and exams, culminating in an independently researched final project.