Description:

It was widely believed during the Renaissance that human bodies and minds developed in harmony with the climates around them, and that to dwell in a different climate produced disruptive and adaptive responses. Such assumptions contributed distinctively to the development of discourses of race. This workshop examines passages from Shakespeare’s Love’s Labors Lost, Henry V, and The Winters Tale to explore how the stage fashioned national identities from the premises of climatic and humoral differences.

Sophie Lemercier-Goddard is maîtresse de conférences (associate professor) at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, specializing in early modern European literature and the literatures of Britain.

Lemercier-Goddard's visit is organized by William West (Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies), and is supported by Northwestern Buffett and the Office of the Vice President for International Relations through a Virtual International Visitors Grant.