Rachel Prusko, PhD, MA, BA
Contact
Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Arts - English & Film Studies Dept
- rprusko@ualberta.ca
Overview
About
I'm an early modernist, with a research focus on Shakespeare and his contemporaries; I research and teach in the field of children's literature as well. I'm an Edmontonian born and raised, but spend plenty of time south of the border, as most of my family is scattered across the U.S. I've been teaching university English courses since 2000, beginning at Grant MacEwan University and then moving to North Hennepin College in Minnesota. I returned to the University of Alberta in 2010 to pursue my PhD, and have been happily studying and teaching here ever since. When I'm not working, I can usually be found at the barn, hanging around with my kids and our horses.
Research
My research focuses on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as children's literature. Recent publications include:
"'A Prince so Young as I': Agequeerness and Marlowe's Boy King." Queering Childhood in Early Modern English Drama and Culture, edited by Jennifer Higginbotham and Mark Johnston. Palgrave, 2018, pp. 195-214.
“Queering the Reader in Peter and Wendy.” Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures 4.2 (2012): 107-25.
“’Who hath got the right Anne?’: Gossip, Resistance, and Anne Page in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives.” The Merry Wives of Windsor: New Critical Essays, edited by Evelyn Gajowski and Phyllis Rackin. Routledge, 2014.
“Young Widowhood in The Duchess of Malfi.” The Duchess of Malfi: Webster’s Tragedy of Blood Anatomized Anew, edited by William C. Carroll and Pascale Drouet, Belin/Humensis, 2018, pp. 97-109.
“Youth and Privacy in Romeo and Juliet.” Early Theatre: A Journal Associated with the Records of Early English Drama 19.1 (June 2016): 113-36.
Teaching
I teach a range of first-year literature and writing courses. At the senior level in English I teach Shakespeare, non-Shakespearean early modern drama, sixteenth-century texts, children's literature, and reading histories.
Courses
ENGL 102 - Introduction to Critical Analysis
Introduces methods of critical analysis through a range of literature written in English, broadly conceived, from different historical periods and cultural locations. Not to be taken by students with *6 in approved junior English.
ENGL 339 - Shakespeare
Studies in a selection of plays. Prerequisite: *6 of junior English, or *3 of junior English plus WRS 101 or 102. Note: Not to be taken by students with credit in ENGL 338.
ENGL 387 - Youth Cultures
The study of the cultures of young people which may include literature, television, digital cultures, and other media formats. Prerequisite: *6 of junior English, or *3 of junior English plus WRS 101 or 102.
ENGL 388 - Children's Literature
Studies in print and oral texts, including picture books, historical, critical and theoretical approaches to literature for young people. Content and period focus may vary. Prerequisite: *6 of junior English, or *3 of junior English plus WRS 101 or 102.