Gregory M. Colón Semenza, Professor of English Literature, Specializing in the Renaissance

Office: CLAS 213

Office hours: T, Th 2-3;
W 12-1; and by appointment

Phone: 860-486-4762

Email: semenza@uconn.edu

Teaching Philosophy

Selected Syllabi

Advising Statement

Greg's Books

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Basic Writing Guidelines

	(Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)			The English Renaissance in Popular Culture: An Age for All Time Published in 2010 “ With admirable breadth and wit, The English Renaissance in Popular Culture illuminates how far modern mass culture's fascination with its counterpart, the culture of early modern England, extends beyond Shakespeare. The range of materials explored—from silent film to punk music, The Tudors TV series to Renaissance fairs, historical fiction to horror films—is especially praiseworthy, as is the critical intelligence and ingenuity with which the contributors analyze how our own culture has been shaped by imaginative and often surprising identifications with the English Renaissance. The intersection of Renaissance scholarship and contemporary cultural studies in this well-conceived collection makes for a thought-provoking, exciting, timely and original contribution to study of the English past in the popular present. ” *Douglas M. Lanier, Professor of English, University of New Hampshire* Read more at Palgrave Macmillan View the Amazon.com page			CV-Resumé Greg’s Books Research Links Top 21 Shakespeare Films Interested in Grad School?
	(Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)			Milton in Popular Culture Published in 2006 with Laura L. Knoppers “Knoppers and Semenza have produced a collection of essays, innovative in spirit, bold in assertion, that will become the emanating center for many (as yet unwritten) contributions to a new Milton criticism in which the inflection falls less on what Milton tells us about popular culture than on what popular culture tells us about Milton. It tells us resoundingly, as Philip Pullman recently declared, that Milton's poetry is with us everywhere: it has never given us the slip. It just ‘will not go away.’” *Joesph Wittreich, Distinguished Professor of English, The Graduate Center, CUNY* “This is a fascinating collection of essays, well-conceived, beautifully organized, and demonstrating convincingly that Milton is a vital part of contemporary American culture. The collection will be treasured by all who teach and love Milton.” *Michael Schoenfeldt, Professor of English and Associate Dean for the Humanities, University of Michigan* “Breathing life into Milton for the twenty-first century, this cutting-edge collection shows students and scholars alike how Milton transforms and is transformed by popular literature and polemics, film and television, and other modern media.” *Palgrave Macmillan website* Read more at Palgrave Macmillan View the Amazon.com page
	(University of Delaware Press, 2003)			Sport, Politics, and Literature in the English Renaissance Published in 2005 “Sport, Politics, and Literature in the English Renaissance by Gregory M. Colon Semenza is an overdue and refreshing challenge to the Bakhtinian orthodoxy. . . . In a series of exciting interpretations, Semenza examines the role of sports in the political discourse of the seventeenth century. . . . This book should inaugurate a vigorous debate.” David Hawkes. Times Literary Supplement (TLS) November 19, 2004. “Gregory M. Colón Semenza’s Sport, Politics, and Literature in the English Renaissance demonstrates that “sport” did not always have the low and lower-class associations our (high? academic?) culture now tends to give it, nor was it simply merriment and pastimes. Indeed, he argues that negative attitudes toward sport in fact derive from attitudes that only developed during the English Renaissance.” from Achsah Guibbory's review in SEL: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Read the full review by Achsah Guibbory, University of Illinois Read a review by Jeffrey Powers-Beck, East Tennessee State University View the University of Delaware Press page View the Amazon.com page
	(Expanded 2nd edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)			Graduate Study for the 21st Century: How to Build a Career in the Humanities Expanded 2nd edition published in 2010 “A tough-minded, witty, generous discussion of how to enter the profession of scholarship and teaching. The appendices alone are worth the price of the book. The book should be required reading for graduate students and their professors.” *Barry V. Qualls, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University* “Many graduate students continue to be regarded as “apprentices” despite the fact that they are expected to design and teach their own classes, serve on university committees, and conference and publish regularly. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the attrition rate for American Ph.D. programs is at an all-time high, between 40% and 50% (higher for women and minorities). Of those who finish, only one in three will secure tenure-track jobs. These statistics highlight waste: of millions of dollars by universities and of time and energy by students. Rather than teaching graduate students how to be graduate students, then, the guide prepares them for what they really seek: a successful academic career.” *Palgrave Macmillan website* “ That every graduate program should purchase copies of this book for its entering students goes without saying. ” *Pedagogy* Read more at Palgrave Macmillan View the Amazon.com page

Office: CLAS 213 Phone: 860-486-4762 email: semenza@uconn.edu