Anita Sherman Professor Literature
- Additional Positions at AU
- Folger Institute, Central Executive Committee
- Faculty Associate, Political Theory Institute
- Degrees
- BA Harvard University (History and Literature); MA Oxford University (Philosophy and Theology); PhD The University of Maryland (English Literature)
- Languages Spoken
- Spanish, French, Italian, Latin
- Favorite Spot on Campus
- The Library
- Book Currently Reading
- Giorgio Agamben, The Time That Remains
- Bio
- Anita Gilman Sherman studies 16th and 17th century literature, specializing in works that have problems of knowledge and interpretation at their thematic center. Her book, Skepticism and Memory in Shakespeare and Donne (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), explores the repercussions of skepticism on representations of memory, history and temporality in Shakespeare and Donne, arguing that in their hands the art of memory becomes an art of doubt. Her new book , “Skepticism in Early Modern English Literature: The Problems and Pleasures of Doubt” (Cambridge University Press, 2021), extends her work on skepticism, developing its aesthetic and political implications. Professor Sherman has published essays on John Donne, Garcilaso de la Vega, Herbert of Cherbury, Michel de Montaigne, Thomas Heywood, Shakespeare, and W. G. Sebald in edited collections and in journals such as Connotations, Criticism, Shakespeare Quarterly, The Shakespearean International Yearbook, Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, Studies in English Literature, Texas Studies in Language and Literature, the Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies, and Sin Nombre. She enjoys taking students to the theater.
- See Also
- Skepticism in Early Modern Literature
- Skepticism and Memory
- "Disowning Knowledge of Jessica, or Shylock's Skepticism"
- "Shakespearean Vertigo: W. G. Sebald's Lear"
- "Forms of Oblivion: Losing the Revels Office at St. John's"
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Fall 2024
-
CORE-106 Complex Problems Seminar: The Examined Life
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LIT-334 Topic Renaissance/17C Lit/Clt: Literature/Plague Across Ages
Spring 2025
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LIT-232 Shakespeare: Shakespeare: the Second Decade
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LIT-334 Topic Renaissance/17C Lit/Clt: Lit of the English Revolution
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Selected Publications
Publications
Skepticism in Early Modern English Literature (Cambridge, 2021)
Skepticism and Memory in Shakespeare and Donne (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)
Critical Essays
"The Impact of Thomas Stanley's History of Philosophy on Margaret Cavendish." Studies in Philology 120.2 (2023): 315-339.
"Andrew Marvell's Taste for Death" in Memory and Mortality in Renaissance England. Ed. William Engel, Rory Loughnane and Grant Williams (Cambridge UP, 2022), pp. 201-217.
"Poland in the Cultural Imaginary of Early Modern England." Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies 15.1 (2015): 55-89.
“Fantasies of Private Language in Shakespeare’s ‘Phoenix and Turtle’ and Donne’s ‘Ecstasy’” in Shakespeare and Donne: Generic Hybrids in the Cultural Imaginary, eds. Judith Anderson and Jennifer Vaught (Fordham UP, 2013), pp. 250-278.
“The Politics of Truth in Herbert of Cherbury.” Texas Studies in Language and Literature 54.1 (2012): 189-215.
“Forms of Oblivion: Losing the Revels Office at St. John’s,” Shakespeare Quarterly 62.1 (2011): 75 – 105.
“Shakespearean Vertigo: W. G. Sebald’s Lear.” Criticism 52.1 (2010): 1 – 24.
“The Skeptical Ethics of John Donne: The Case of Ignatius his Conclave.” Reading Renaissance Ethics. Ed. Marshall Grossman (Routledge, 2007): 367 – 405.
“The Aesthetic Strategies of Skepticism: Mixing Memory and Desire in Montaigne and Shakespeare.” Shakespearean International Yearbook 6. Ed. Graham Bradshaw,Tom Bishop and Peter Holbrook (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006): 99 – 118.
“John Donne and Spain.” Studies in Honor of Denah Lida. Ed. Mary G. Berg and Lanin A. Gyurko (Potomac, Maryland: Scripta Humanistica, 2005): 71 – 83.
“Disowning Knowledge of Jessica, or Shylock’s Skepticism.” Studies in English Literature 44.2 (Spring 2004): 277 – 295.
“The Status of Charity in Thomas Heywood’s If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody II.” Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England 12 (1999): 99 – 120.
“El Viento como Destino en la Obra de Garcilaso de la Vega.” Revista Sin Nombre 14 (1984): 132 – 143.
Research Interests
Renaissance literature, early modern philosophy, Shakespeare, Montaigne, drama, reception theory, memory studies
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
Renaissance literature, Shakespeare
Additional Information
Anita Gilman Sherman is author of the book Skepticism and Memory in Shakespeare and Donne (Palgrave MacMillan, 2007).
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.