English Department

Cal Poly University

San Luis Obispo CA 93407

December 20, 1991

Dear Registrant in English 510:

I'm writing to welcome you to the graduate Shakespeare seminar, to let you know what's planned for the course, and to suggest some advance preparation you can do before Winter quarter begins.

I've enclosed a course outline, a table of contents for the course reader (now available for purchase at Poor Richard's on Foothill), some notes on our first text, A Midsummernight's Dream, which should be read by the first class meeting, and a list of possible topics for your critical research paper. If you're not familiar with the three plays we're doing, it would be a good idea to read them all before we start, so that you'll have a basis upon which to select a research paper topic.and the role you're interested in playing in Macbeth. The Learning Resources Center in the library has several video productions of each play, if you want to watch as well as read. Some topics may be illuminated or suggested by the compact survey of English history and theatre during Shakespeare's time written by Harry Levin.and included in the reader.

This course will take off to a running start and will require steady work, but no more reading and writing than an average graduate seminar. What's extra, both for you and for me, is what's demanded by mounting a play. But that's for the fun of it.

If you have questions, feel free to call me at home; I'll be away from the 27-29, but otherwise around. Have a good holiday.

Sincerely,

Steven Marx