William Cain

Mary Jewett Gaiser Professor of English

Expert in nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature;  Shakespeare; and modernism in the arts.

Scholarly interests include nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature; modernism in the arts; African American literature; slavery and abolition; literary theory and criticism; Shakespeare.

Publications include a monograph on American literary and cultural criticism, 1900-1945, in The Cambridge History of American Literature, vol. 5 (2003). Professor Cain is a co-editor of the Norton Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism (1st ed., 2001; 2nd ed., 2010), and, with Sylvan Barnet, he has co-authored a number of books on literature and composition. He also has co-edited a 2-volume anthology of American Literature (1st ed., 2004; 2nd edition, 2013/14).

Other recent publications include essays on Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Shakespeare, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, and the painter Mark Rothko.

Education

  • B.A., Tufts University
  • M.A., Johns Hopkins University
  • Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Current and upcoming courses

In our course we will focus on Shakespeare’s plays as words on the pages of books and as dramatic scripts that directors, actors, and others bring to life in theaters and on TV and film screens. We will study Richard II, a history play; Julius Caesar, a Roman play; and Hamlet, a tragedy. All three were written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. We’ll conclude with Measure for Measure, a comedy, dark comedy, or problem play. It was written early in the reign of King James I, who came to the throne in 1603. We’ll think about the continuities and changes in Shakespeare’s powerful and passionate writing as the nation moved from Elizabeth to James.