AUTUMN 2003: Shakespeare's Ghostly Traditions: British Drama from the Romans to the Renaissance
Taught by Professor John C. Coldewey
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19, 12/3

"Remember me," the Ghost in Hamlet calls out again and again. Though not all of Shakespeare's works feature so literal a ghost, the plays implore the reader and viewer to "remember" that the ghosts of Britain's theatrical past haunt the halls of Shakespeare's writings. This course will explore the theatrical legacy that Shakespeare inherited by examing the traditions of performance in Romanized Britain, between the first and fifth centuries; the liturgy of the Roman Church, well before the turn of the year 1000; and in the later Middle Ages. By this last era, theatrical ventures were flourishing wildly in every town and parish across the country, leading ultimately to witty, word-savvy plays performed in the universities and at court.

John C. Coldewey, a professor of English at the University of Washington since 1972, has published widely in the areas of Medieval and Renaissance drama. He has co-edited and contributed to several volumes and anthologies on Renaissance and Early English drama, and his work has appeared in numerous journals and collections. He was selected by UW students as one of the "top ten professors to take no matter what your major." Professor Coldewey has several works forthcoming, including a chapter on early British drama in the three-volume set, New Cambridge History of British Theatre.

WINTER 2004: The Belle Epoque: Pleasure and Spectacle in Turn-of-the-Century France
Taught by Professor Raymond Jonas
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 1/14, 1/28, 2/11, 2/25, 3/10

Those who experienced the Great War of 1914-1918 invented the term Belle Epoque as a nostalgic evocation of the "beautiful years" from the end of the nineteenth century up to 1914. This course explores both the Belle Epoque of history and the Belle Epoque of the imagination. We begin by exploring France, specifically Paris, at the end of the nineteenth century as the setting for new artistic, literary, and architectural styles. The course will explore particular sites, topics, and innovations Ð Bohemian Montmartre, tourism and the business of entertainment, the spectacular city Ð before moving on to consider the Belle Epoque of memory as evoked in the performances of Maurice Chevalier and, most recently, the vividly imagined Belle Epoque of the film Moulin Rouge.

Raymond Jonas is professor of History at the University of Washington. His most recent books include France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart: An Epic Tale for Modern Times, Le Sacre-Coeur, and the forthcoming The Tragic Tale of Claire Ferchaud and the Great War. He teaches courses on politics, culture, and society in modern Europe, including the history of Paris, the political culture of counter-revolution, sacred art and ritual, power and place in rural and urban contexts, war and cultural reconstruction. His current research concerns Italy and Ethiopia in the late nineteenth century.

SPRING 2004: Mummies, Myth, and Magic: Ancient Egyptian Concepts and Beliefs
Taught by Professor Scott Noegel
7:30-9:00 p.m., Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington
Wednesdays 3/31, 4/14, 4/28, 5/12, 5/26

Though the last pharaoh was buried more than two thousand years ago, ancient Egypt continues to fascinate us. Despite several centuries of archaelogical discoveries, Egypt continues to yield new artifacts and raise questions about its place in the ancient world. The more we examine its monumental remains and mummies, the more we become enthralled with the ancient Egyptians' cultural worldview. In this course, we will explore this worldview by focusing on a number of distinctive elements of ancient Egyptian civilization. Amply illustrated with striking visual imagery, the course will focus on they ways Egyptians practiced their religions, how they conceived of death and the afterlife, and their conceptions of self, gender, and sexuality.

Scott Noegel is Associate Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has authored and edited six books and more than fifty articles on a variety of topics concerning the ancient Near East. His most recent book, Nocturnal Ciphers: The Punning Language of Dreams in the Ancient Near East, examines the ways in which people of the ancient world interpreted dreams. In addition to his academic achievements, Professor Noegel has been a Seattle Arts Commissioner and is active in the media arts community.

For information about previous courses in the Wednesday University Series, please visit our season archives.