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| 2017.0073 [TEACHING, CAMBRIDGE, SHAKESPEARE] |
| Date Range of Records: |
1963-2009 |
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The Greer Archive has been made available due to its historical and research importance. Statements which form part of the collection are not made on behalf of the University and do not represent the University’s views. It contains material that some researchers might find confronting. This includes: Explicit language and images that reflect either the attitudes of the era in which the material was originally published or the views of the creators of the material but may not be considered appropriate today. Names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in published and unpublished printed material, audio recordings and photographs. Graphic descriptions of medical conditions and treatment.
This series contains records of Greer’s teaching at the University of Cambridge, her long association with Newnham College as a student and academic, and her Shakespearean scholarship, including revisiting her 1967 PhD thesis on Shakespeare’s Early Comedies. The physical collection consists of over 80 items in seven units. Records comprise correspondence, research material, course and teaching material, lectures, thesis chapters, minutes and agendas. A small sequence of files relates to research and preparation for proposed journalism columns. The series comprises records created by Greer from 1963 to 2009 but some research materials gathered by Greer were published earlier.
Greer first came to Newnham College, Cambridge in 1964 as a research student, initially enrolled in the English Tripos, and converted to a doctorate on the recommendation of Muriel Braybrook. She completed her dissertation ‘The Ethic of Love and Marriage in Shakespeare's Early Comedies’ in 1967 and graduated in June 1968. Item 2017.0073. 00011 contains correspondence (1963-1968) on her entry to Newnham as a Commonwealth Scholar, a prestigious scholarship awarded by the Australian government, funding which enabled some of the best and brightest Australian students of the period to continue their academic careers in England and no doubt contributed to Greer’s generation of expatriate intellectuals. Following completion of her PhD, Greer left for the University of Warwick, where she was an Assistant Lecturer, then Lecturer in English (1967-1973). During this period Greer was catapulted into celebrity following publication of The Female Eunuch (1970) and she resigned from Warwick to pursue her writing. Greer’s next academic appointment was as the Founder/Director of the University of Tulsa Center for the Study of Women’s Literature, University of Tulsa (1979-1983). She returned to Cambridge as a Special Lecturer and Unofficial Fellow, Newnham College in 1989, leaving in 1998 to return to the University of Warwick as Professor of English and Comparative Studies (1998-2003). Greer returned again to Newnham in 2007, when appointed by Council as Special Supervisor in English at Newnham College, and remained there until 2014. Greer’s academic teaching career is not contained within one series in the Greer Archive as it has run in parallel with writing of her major works, her journalism, her speaking, her media engagements etc. Series 2014.0044: Early Years, Series 2014.0045: Major Works and other series in the Greer Archive include records of her teaching at Warwick and Tulsa.
Series 2017.0073 contains records of Greer’s appointments to Newnham and her close connection with the life of the College. Greer was a member of the Newnham College Governing Body, who elected Greer a Founding Member of the High Table in 2001, her knowledge and expertise was valued on the Garden Committee, and the Joint SCR/JCR Committee (Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room). Greer appears to have enjoyed the collegiality of the SCR and her academic colleagues, her High Table dining privileges, and College functions. Her connection is also demonstrated by her support of the Newnham College Development Fund with substantial financial donations raised from her speaking engagements.
Greer’s erudition and conscientious preparation for her supervision of students in English Tripos courses at Newnham College, including in ‘Practical Criticism’ and ‘Shakespeare’, is shown in folders of course materials and handouts prepared by Greer. These folders include an alphabetic sequence of seminar topics from “Dramatic Blank Verse” to “Translation”. Course materials also include additional handouts, such as intriguing examples of “Inkhorn Terms” (overly pretentious terms, presumably a Greer pet hate), her selection of exemplars of writing for her prose narrative seminar, and “Shakespeare's Cat”, containing references to cats and kittens in Shakespeare.
The final two boxes in this series were labelled “Teaching Shakespeare”. These boxes contain research material (photocopies of articles and book extracts), and laser print of typescripts, c. 1980s, of the introduction and three of the four chapters from Greer’s 1967 PhD thesis: Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Comedy of Errors. (Items 2017.0073.00083, 2017.0073.00084, 2017.0073.00085, 2017.0073.00088). Greer’s thesis has been digitised and is available on the UMA web site at https://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/imu/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=14287. These typescripts appear to be exact transcriptions, with footnotes updated to continuous numbering and some minor copy editing corrections. The folders also contain critical material on these plays published from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s, that is, in the twenty years or so after she completed her thesis, indicating that Greer diligently keeps abreast of Shakespearean scholarship and perhaps suggesting that an update of her 1967 work may have been under consideration in the 1980s. Greer’s original thesis formed a solid foundation for her continuing academic reputation as a Shakespearean scholar, which has been cemented throughout her career. Item 2017.0073.00080 contains a letter from Edward Arnold (Publishers) in 1973, inviting Greer to contribute her chapter on Taming of the Shrew, from her thesis, to their Studies in English Literature series and Greer has constantly returned to the world of Shakespearean scholarship in her writing and teaching.
This series provides insights into how at home Greer is in the world of academe, the importance to her of Newnham College, Cambridge, and her expertise and generosity as a lecturer and teacher. |
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| 7 Units (1.19m) |
| Collection Category: |
Culture and the Arts, individuals |
| Access Conditions: |
Access: Restricted |
| Finding Aids: |
Yes listed ONLINE |
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