Shakesplish
Book Cover designed by Christian Fuenfhausen
This article was dedicated to the late Paula Blank, a respected and esteemed Professor of English at the College of William and Mary. Due to her untimely death, three of Professor Blank’s colleagues and friends worked to publish her final work: Shakesplish.
Written in collaboration with Kiana Espinoza.
When students begin their course of study in the English department at William and Mary, they often begin with the classics of the English literary canon, which includes the ever-daunting task of understanding the work of William Shakespeare. Many professors in the past have sought ways to relate his work to a young and modern audience, but none have ever considered the idea that a misunderstanding of Shakespeare’s words may not necessarily be an error, but rather, an opportunity to analyze the evolution of language.
Paula Blank, Renaissance scholar and esteemed member of the English Department who passed away in 2016, tackled this objective in an innovative book that establishes a dialogue between our modern vocabulary and that of Early Modern English speakers. The result is Shakesplish: How We Read Shakespeare’s Language (Stanford University Press, 2018), a book that is at once insightful and hilarious, declarative, yet open to opposition. The book stands alone as a piece of powerful academic work, while also being emblematic of the sense of community that exists within the English department, as well as within the William & Mary campus as a whole.
The book stands alone as a piece of powerful academic work, while also being emblematic of the sense of community that exists within the English department, as well as within the William & Mary campus as a whole.
Elizabeth Barnes, the best friend and colleague of Paula Blank, was the catalyst for the publication of Shakesplish. After discovering the manuscript of the book on Blank’s laptop after her death, Barnes decided that the work needed to be published. She described the process as a “labor of love,” and said: “I took on such a bittersweet task because I think it would have made Paula glad.”
However, as a scholar of 19th-century American literature, Barnes knew that she could not complete the project alone. She turned to a couple of colleagues who quickly understood the importance of the project and readily agreed to assist. Erin Webster and Erin Minea —the other two Renaissance scholars in the department—offered their time and expertise to the project. Minear, who had worked with Blank in the department for years, wanted to preserve her friend’s scholarship. Webster, however, was a new hire who had spent time with Blank during her interview for the position, but had never worked with her. Nevertheless, Webster expressed that she was familiar with Blank’s work from her time in graduate school, and she actually referenced Blank’s scholarship when she was applying for her current position at William & Mary because she believed Blank’s work “inspired an entire generation of students.” Minear said, “Liz, Paula and I were the community that hired Erin Webster. So then it felt personal, in that, even though she had met Paula only once or twice, we had a really good rapport.... In some ways like a continuation of that. In a sad way, but also in a community-building sort of way.”
While motivation for the project within the English department stemmed from deep respect and friendship between colleagues who worked alongside each other in Tucker Hall, the sense of community and connection to Blank was felt beyond the department. President Katherine Rowe knew her personally, as they had befriended one another in graduate school. Rowe recalls Blank was one of the many reasons why she felt at home at William and Mary. Rowe revealed: “Paula is an important part of why I am at William and Mary. I came to give a talk about 20 years ago, and some members of the department were here then. And it was one of the most fun talks I had ever given. The graduate students, undergrads, faculty, staff were at the talk… And I thought, ‘this is what an intellectual community should be.’ ” Professor Webster added: “it’s very serendipitous that Katherine Rowe knew Paula Blank… but, it seems fitting.”
The collaboration between all of these faculty members culminated in the book party that President Rowe held in her home at the end of January, a celebration of the publication of Shakesplish, as well as a commemoration of Blank. Rowe opened this event by saying that Blank “set the standard,” and she helped to establish more of an “interdisciplinary community” among scholars. Professor Barnes said about the book party: “You can see in that room what it meant, what the publication of this book meant to give us a sense of being a unit with Paula. I won’t even call it closure because it’s about keeping her with us. Her book will be downstairs behind the glass with everyone else’s… So, I think people are sort of interested in the camaraderie of the three of us working on this together and the honoring and remembering and missing—so much—of our friend.”
Student efforts were also involved in the publication of Shakesplish. Jackie Keshner, a class of 2019 Honors student in the department, also dedicated her time to the project. Keshner said, “Working on this book has been incredibly meaningful. As Professor Barnes was talking about, it truly was a labor of love for her, and also the dedication of the Erins… to bring this book into fruition. And now everyone gets to enjoy Professor Blank’s wonderful insights and… just the love that she put both into the book and into the classroom and into the English community around her.”
The publication of Shakesplish not only demonstrates the exceptional work of an intuitive academic, but also shows the ways in which Blank developed relationships with those around her.
The publication of Shakesplish not only demonstrates the exceptional work of an intuitive academic, but also shows the ways in which Blank developed relationships with those around her. The way she interacted with her students and fellow faculty members, alongside her intelligence and expertise in her field, brought a community together to share her words with the world. In the book, readers will, of course, discover her intimate knowledge of Shakespearean language, but they will also hear the voice of someone who listened to her students and had a gift for understanding not just Renaissance literature, but also the interpretations of others.
Professor Barnes said, “Sometimes you lose colleagues and then you lose not only the person that you knew and who was so talented in the classroom; you lose what’s inside their heads… and their particular way of putting things and writing them.” Yet, Barnes, in her labor of love, has ensured that the many novel ideas that were in Blank’s head will not be lost. Barnes said: “She makes you read [Shakespeare’s] works in a different way and appreciate them in a different way. And not just by saying, ‘Oh this is what he would have meant.’ She’s really good about showing that the things that we think of, they matter, too.”
Originally published in Inside Tucker Hall Volume I, Issue 2