Shakespeare Then and Now In the1623 First Folio, the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, rival playwright and poet Ben Jonson says that the world’s most famous author was “not of an age, but for all time.” Jonson might more accurately have said that Shakespeare was “for all time” because “of an age.” To see how this is so, we will study ten to twelve plays from the following list: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Othello, All’s Well that Ends Well, King Lear, Anthony and Cleopatra, and The Winter’s Tale. Lectures and discussions will emphasize historical context, staging, structure, character, authorial development, and performance and reception history, as well as social and political concerns important in both Shakespeare’s times and ours: sexuality, gender, race, property, censorship, and autocratic and collective power.

Foundations of English Literature (Pre-1800) Students will study Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Milton's Paradise Lost, as well as other foundational works of English literature that may include Shakespeare, non-Shakespearean Elizabethan drama, the poetry of Donne, and other 16th- and 17th-century poetry.

Reading Literature: Theory & Artistry In this seminar we will cover the basics of literary theory while analyzing a broad selection of literature from the sonnet to slam poetry, and from the modernist novel to the contemporary short story. Our goals are to become competent and confident critics of literary meaning, both in its politics (gender, race, class, sexual) and in its philosophy (hermeneutic, formal, deconstructive). Our objects of study are both literature and ourselves. We will even do some creative writing of our own. Authors may include William Shakespeare, John Donne, Virginia Woolf, Nella Larsen, Octavia Butler, Junot Diaz, Ocean Vuong, Danez Smith, and Franny Choi, among others.

Literary “Character” In this course we will investigate literary character—what it is; what makes it “round,” “flat,” “deep,” “shallow”; its history.  In seeking to understand “character,” we will create our own stories, using characters from our readings, or introducing characters we create into plots or settings from those readings.  In expository essays and class discussions, we will also consider the following questions: how and why did “fictional person” acquire the name “character” (literally “engraved mark”)?  How does “character” relate to representations of body, property, authorship, gender, race? How does theatrical character relate to novelistic and short-story character? Possible authors: Aristotle, Theophrastus, Terence, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Richard Wright, Julia Alvarez.

Adventures in Literary Romance In this course we will explore the literary genre of romance.  Today, “romance” often refers to courtship—only one aspect of this ancient genre.  Other aspects include adventure, magic, wonder, multiple plots, multiple authors, an affinity for sequels.  Romance’s associations with every genre—tragedy, comedy, epic, novel, lyric poetry—and its reputation for escapism have made it an epitome of the very idea of literature, as conceived by attackers and defenders.  Its welcoming of female readers and protagonists and its marketing of the exotic have raised issues of gender and ethnicity.  We will discuss all such aspects and implications of romance, and we may also explore how romance has shaped modern television and film. No papers or exams; there will be quizzes daily on the reading, and students will be expected to participate thoughtfully in class discussions.  Readings from texts such as: Daphnis and Chloe, Ethiopian Romance, The Gospel of Luke, The Golden Ass, Arthurian romances by various authors, Orlando Inamorato, Orlando Furioso, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Don Quixote,/ Waverly/, Madame Bovary, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Time Quintet.

Adventures in Literary Romance (Pre-1800) In this course we will explore the literary genre of romance.  Today, “romance” often refers to courtship—only one aspect of this ancient genre.  Other aspects include adventure, magic, wonder, multiple plots, multiple authors, an affinity for sequels.  Romance’s associations with every genre—tragedy, comedy, epic, novel, lyric poetry—and its reputation for escapism have made it an epitome of the very idea of literature, as conceived by attackers and defenders.  Its welcoming of female readers and protagonists and its marketing of the exotic have raised issues of gender and ethnicity.  We will discuss all such aspects and implications of romance, and we may also explore how romance has shaped modern television and film. No papers or exams; there will be quizzes daily on the reading, and students will be expected to participate thoughtfully in class discussions.  Readings from texts such as: Daphnis and Chloe, Ethiopian Romance, The Gospel of Luke, The Golden Ass, Arthurian romances by various authors, Orlando Inamorato, Orlando Furioso, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Don Quixote,/ Waverly/, Madame Bovary, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Time Quintet.

Poetry and Performance Most poems are meant to be performed.  In  this course we will explore many short poems and a few long poems, spanning three-quarters of a millennium, with performance in mind.  We will memorize poems, perform poems out loud for each other, and interpret poems with tone foremost in mind, on the theory that everything about a poem, from its form to its diction to its imagery to its historical or social context, instructs its reader as to its voice.  Texts will include diverse poems in English, from Middle English tales or lyrics to slam poetry, from Renaissance and Romantic lyrics to postcolonial poetry, from modernist experiments to indigenous poetry. Formal assignments will include recitations, presentations, a paper or two, and a poem, to be created, memorized, and performed by the student.

Merchants of Venice In this class we will read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice from different perspectives, including those of race, religion, gender, staging, and form, engaging the play at the level of rhetorical analysis, textual history, character analysis, source analysis, stage and film history, and current performance.  We will study contemporaneous dramas resembling The Merchant of Venice (e.g., Three Ladies of London, Jew of Malta, Othello). Throughout, we will consider the multiple attitudes towards Jewishness and Judaism implicit in the play, its performance history and its literary and cultural influence. Finally, we will study the literary legacy of The Merchant of Venice, from the early modern period up to our own times. The class should also give us an opportunity to enhance our skills in rhetorical analysis, writing, speaking, and research.

Merchants of Venice In this class we will read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice from different perspectives, including those of race, religion, gender, staging, and form, engaging the play at the level of rhetorical analysis, textual history, character analysis, source analysis, stage and film history, and current performance. We will study contemporaneous dramas resembling The Merchant of Venice (e.g., Three Ladies of London, Jew of Malta, Othello). Throughout, we will consider the multiple attitudes towards Jewishness and Judaism implicit in the play, its performance history and its literary and cultural influence. Finally, we will study the literary legacy of The Merchant of Venice, from the early modern period up to our own times. The class should also give us an opportunity to enhance our skills in rhetorical analysis, writing, speaking, and research.

Shakespeare's Characters Shakespeare’s reputation owes much to his characters; yet well-known as they are, they remain mysterious. What did they mean in Shakespeare’s time? How do they still succeed as characters?  What explains idiotic Bottom’s charisma?  What does Henry V’s flirtation with Princess Katherine or Othello’s jealousy about Desdemona reveal about Elizabethan—and our own—understandings of gender and race?  Such questions will help us develop skills in speaking, writing, and critical inquiry.  Texts will include at most three plays from among the following: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, Othello, Lear, as well as contextual readings. We will also study a film of one of the plays.

Towards a Poetics of Community Why read literature? One answer: such reading is not individual but communal. It links readers to each other in aesthetic experience, in ethical and hermeneutic debate, and in appreciation for writers and fellow readers. As we read literary texts from different times, cultures, and genres, we will examine how they anticipate, create, or recreate readerly communities, and how these communities in turn help shape the texts as they are experienced. We will also strive to form our own readerly community—one that is as inclusive and as intellectually generous as possible. We will begin with close analysis of poetry in various forms from various historical periods. We will then read dramas by such playwrights as William Shakespeare, Margaret Edson, and/or Lolita Chakrabarti, as well as two works from among such prose writers as Charles Dickens, Emily Brontë, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Marilynne Robinson, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Ian McEwan, Walter Moseley, and Jean Rhys.

The Experience of Tragedy For over two millennia tragedy has raised ethical questions and represented conflicts between the divine and the mortal, nature and culture, household and polity, individual and society.  What is tragedy?  What led to its production and what impact did it have, in ancient times? Why was it reborn in Shakespeare's time?  How has tragedy shaped, and been shaped by, gender, class, religion, and nationality?  We will address these questions and explore how tragedy continues to influence our literary expectations and experience. Authors may include Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aristotle, Seneca, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Goethe, Nietzsche, O'Neill, Beckett, Kennedy, and Kushner.

The Experience of Tragedy For over two millennia tragedy has raised ethical questions and represented conflicts between the divine and the mortal, nature and culture, household and polity, individual and society. What is tragedy? What led to its production and what impact did it have, in ancient times? Why was it reborn in Shakespeare's time? How has tragedy shaped, and been shaped by, gender, class, religion, and nationality? We will address these questions and explore how tragedy continues to influence our literary expectations and experience, as well as our political, social, and familial environment. We will study texts by such authors as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Aristotle, Seneca, Shakespeare, Webster, Chikamatsu, Goethe, Nietzsche, O'Neill, Beckett, and Soyinka.

James Berg

Reviews and ratings for James Berg at Middlebury College.James Berg teaches Shakespeare Then and Now, Foundations of English Lit., Reading Literature and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is James Berg good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Prof. Berg is extremely enthusiastic about Shakespeare's works, which makes him an ideal teacher for the subject. However, he sometimes seems not to understand that his students lack the same familiarity with the plays. There were 2 quizzes per week where you had to remember who said specific lines, where characters entered onstage, etc. This never got easier to do as the semester went on. In addition, each student had to memorize a passage (~30 lines) of one of the plays and perform it the week we read that play. Regardless, this class is very interesting if you like Shakespeare. 

I thought it was a fun course to take. Definitely a lot of readings, but if you enjoy literature, can feel like (an intense) book club. The creative assignments were fun to write, read and discuss. Berg is very passionate about what he teaches. 

If you’re not into heavy reading, this class might not be for you, there’s a lot to get through, and skipping it isn’t an option if you want to keep up or succeed. Be prepared to read a ton. No exams is nice though.