Orgel, Stephen 1933–

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Orgel, Stephen 1933–

(Stephen Kitay Orgel)

PERSONAL: Born April 11, 1933, in New York, NY; son of Samuel Z. (a physician) and Esther (an attorney) Orgel. Education: Columbia University, B.A., 1954; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1959.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of English, Stanford University, Bldg. 460, Margaret Jacks Hall, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Educator, editor, and writer. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, instructor in English, 1959–60; University of California, Berkeley, assistant professor, 1960–66, associate professor, 1966–72, professor of English, 1972–75; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, professor of English, 1975–81, Sir William Osler Professor, beginning 1981; Stanford University, Stanford, CA, Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in Humanities, 1985–.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association of America, Renaissance Society of America, American Society for Theatre Research, Shakespeare Association, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS: Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1954–55; American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, 1967–68, 1973–74; National Endowment for the Humanities senior fellow, 1982–83; Guggenheim fellowship; Getty fellowship; visiting fellow, New College, Oxford; Clark Lecturer, Trinity College, Cambridge.

WRITINGS:

The Jonsonian Masque, Harvard University Press, 1965, reprinted, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1981.

(With Roy Strong) Inigo Jones: The Theatre of the Stuart Court, two volumes, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1973.

(With John Harris and Roy Strong) The King's Arcadia, Arts Council of Great Britain (London, England), 1973.

The Illusion of Power: Political Theater in the English Renaissance, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1975.

Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare's England, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

The Authentic Shakespeare, and Other Problems of the Early Modern Stage, Routledge (New York, NY), 2002.

Imagining Shakespeare: A History of Texts and Visions, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003.

EDITOR

Ben Jonson, The Complete Masques, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 1969.

Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Poems and Translations, Penguin (New York, NY), 1971.

D.J. Gordon, The Renaissance Imagination: Essays and Lectures, University of California Press, (Berkeley, CA), 1976.

Cebes in England, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1980.

(With Guy Lytle) Patronage in the Renaissance, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1981.

William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1987.

Anthony Trollope, Lady Anna, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

(With Jonathan Goldberg) John Milton: Poems, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Edith Wharton, The Custom of the Country, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Edith Wharton, The Reef, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

King Lear: William Shakespeare, Penguin (New York, NY), 1999.

William Shakespeare, King Lear: The 1608 Quarto and 1623 Folio Texts, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

Macbeth: William Shakespeare, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

William Shakespeare, The Taming of The Shrew, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

William Shakespeare, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

William Shakespeare, The Sonnets, introduction by John Hollander, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

(With A.R. Braunmuller) William Shakespeare, The Complete Works, Penguin (New York, NY), 2002.

(And author of introduction and notes with Jonathan Goldberg) John Milton: The Complete Works, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Peter Holland) From Performance to Stage in Early Modern England, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2004.

(And author of introduction) The Portable Shakespeare, Penguin (New York, NY), 2004.

(And author of introduction and notes with Jonathan Goldberg) John Milton, Paradise Lost, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Peter Holland) From Script to Print in Shakespeare's England, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2006.

(And author of introduction and notes) Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2006.

(And author of introduction) Christopher Marlowe, The Complete Poems and Translations, Penguin (New York, NY), 2007.

General editor of "The Renaissance and the Gods" series, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1976; also general editor of "Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture" and of "Pelican Shakespeare." Author of foreword to Shakespeare's Songbook, by Ross W. Duffin, Norton (New York, NY), 2004. Editor-in-chief, ELH: A Journal of English Literary History.

COEDITOR; WITH SEAN KEILEN

Postmodern Shakespeare, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Political Shakespeare, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and Gender, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and History, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and the Arts, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and the Editorial Tradition, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and the Interpretive Tradition, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare and the Literary Tradition, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare in the Theatre, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

Shakespeare's Poems, Garland (New York, NY), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Stephen Orgel is an English literature professor whose primary interests are the political and historical aspects of Renaissance literature, theater, and art history. He has edited and written several books focusing on these areas and has served as editor of reprints of books by numerous classic authors, including John Milton, William Shakespeare, and Christopher Marlowe. In his book Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare's England, Orgel explores the barring of women from performing on the commercial stage in Renaissance England and asks why this occurred despite the fact that women did perform elsewhere in plays and other entertainments. Erika Bainbridge, writing in Renaissance Quarterly, commented: "Orgel's aim … is not to answer questions but to raise them, and to use his central theme as a viewpoint from which to examine gender construction." Bainbridge also commented favorably on the author's research, writing: "Orgel's method of analysis is orthodox and historical, but often more intuitive than pedantic. The references are not extensive but they indicate considerable research with primary sources."

Imagining Shakespeare: A History of Texts and Visions draws on lectures Orgel has given over more than twenty years to discuss the various "texts" of Shakespeare's plays and the numerous interpretations and dramatic renderings of them. The author includes numerous illustrations—including illustrations of theatres during the time of Shakespeare—and an in-depth discussion of various performances of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream staged during different historical eras. Larry Schwartz, writing in the Library Journal, noted: "This book would repay, with dividends, its careful study by actors, directors, and other teachers of literature and drama." In a review in CLIO, Ann Thompson called Imagining Shakespeare "wide-ranging and interdisciplinary in its approach" and "a richly rewarding book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

CLIO, spring, 2005, Ann Thompson, review of Imagining Shakespeare: A History of Texts and Visions, p. 386.

The Drama Review (Cambridge, MA), winter, 1997, Lars Engle, review of Impersonations, p. 163.

Kenyon Review, winter, 2004, Jennifer A. Wagner-Lawlor, "'Jealous of Dead Leaves': The Reach of the Living Sonnet," includes review of The Sonnets, p. 175.

Library Journal, September 15, 2003, Larry Schwartz, review of Imagining Shakespeare, p. 59.

Modern Philology, August, 1999, Linda Woodbridge, review of Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare's England, p. 99.

Renaissance Quarterly, autumn, 1998, Erika Bainbridge, review of Impersonations, p. 1050.

Review of English Studies, November, 1993, Thomas H. Blackburn, review of John Milton: Poems, p. 578; May, 1998, Paul Hammond, review of The Winter's Tale, p. 221.

Studies in English Literature, spring, 1997, Lars Engle, review of Impersonations, p. 418.