Laurie Johnson – författare

This collection considers issues that have emerged in Early Modern Studies in the past fifteen years relating to understandings of mind and body in Shakespeare’s world. Informed by The Body in Parts, the essays in this book respond also to the notion of an early modern ‘body-mind’ in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries are understood in terms of bodily parts and cognitive processes. What might the impact of such understandings be on our picture of Shakespeare’s theatre or on our histories of the early modern period, broadly speaking? This book provides a wide range of approaches to this challenge, covering histories of cognition, studies of early modern stage practices, textual studies, and historical phenomenology, as well as new cultural histories by some of the key proponents of this approach at the present time. Because of the breadth of material covered, full weight is given to issues that are hotly debated at the present time within Shakespeare Studies: presentist scholarship is presented alongside more historically-focused studies, for example, and phenomenological studies of material culture are included along with close readings of texts. What the contributors have in common is a refusal to read the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries either psychologically or materially; instead, these essays address a willingness to study early modern phenomena (like the Elizabethan stage) as manifesting an early modern belief in the embodiment of cognition.

This collection considers issues that have emerged in Early Modern Studies in the past fifteen years relating to understandings of mind and body in Shakespeare’s world. Informed by The Body in Parts, the essays in this book respond also to the notion of an early modern ‘body-mind’ in which Shakespeare and his contemporaries are understood in terms of bodily parts and cognitive processes. What might the impact of such understandings be on our picture of Shakespeare’s theatre or on our histories of the early modern period, broadly speaking? This book provides a wide range of approaches to this challenge, covering histories of cognition, studies of early modern stage practices, textual studies, and historical phenomenology, as well as new cultural histories by some of the key proponents of this approach at the present time. Because of the breadth of material covered, full weight is given to issues that are hotly debated at the present time within Shakespeare Studies: presentist scholarship is presented alongside more historically-focused studies, for example, and phenomenological studies of material culture are included along with close readings of texts. What the contributors have in common is a refusal to read the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries either psychologically or materially; instead, these essays address a willingness to study early modern phenomena (like the Elizabethan stage) as manifesting an early modern belief in the embodiment of cognition.

The playhouse at Newington Butts has long remained on the fringes of histories of Shakespeare’s career and of the golden age of the theatre with which his name is associated. A mile outside London, and relatively disused by the time Shakespeare began his career in the theatre, this playhouse has been easy to forget. Yet for eleven days in June, 1594, it was home to the two companies that would come to dominate the London theatres. Thanks to the ledgers of theatre entrepreneur, Philip Henslowe, we have a record of this short venture. Shakespeare''s Lost Playhouse is an exploration of a brief moment in time when the focus of the theatrical world in England was on this small playhouse. To write this history, Laurie Johnson draws on archival studies, archaeology, environmental studies, geography, social, political, and cultural studies as well as methods developed within literary and theatre history to expand the scope of our understanding of the theatres, the rise of the playing business, and the formations of the playing companies.

The playhouse at Newington Butts has long remained on the fringes of histories of Shakespeare’s career and of the golden age of the theatre with which his name is associated. A mile outside London, and relatively disused by the time Shakespeare began his career in the theatre, this playhouse has been easy to forget. Yet for eleven days in June, 1594, it was home to the two companies that would come to dominate the London theatres. Thanks to the ledgers of theatre entrepreneur, Philip Henslowe, we have a record of this short venture. Shakespeare''s Lost Playhouse is an exploration of a brief moment in time when the focus of the theatrical world in England was on this small playhouse. To write this history, Laurie Johnson draws on archival studies, archaeology, environmental studies, geography, social, political, and cultural studies as well as methods developed within literary and theatre history to expand the scope of our understanding of the theatres, the rise of the playing business, and the formations of the playing companies.

I realized after my diagnosis four years ago that having bipolar disorder does not define who I am as a person. For close to three decades, I battled an unknown adversary, believing I was just sinning because I wasnt choosing happiness. The story is composed of trials from my life, including a turbulent relationship; hopelessness and thoughts of suicide; the abandonment of my Olympic dream; the death of a son in my arms from a genetic disorder; the early end to my teaching career; and the suicide of my nephew. I can now see how my undiagnosed bipolar disorder affected my decision-making ability, my relationships, my joy, and the goals I once had for my life. It is a story of triumph in the face of adversity, one that tells how God has given me a meaningful life even though things havent turned out how I originally envisioned.

Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea and take a walk with me through this book of reflections in which you will find the beauty of love, life, and yes, some heartbreak and tears. Share the dreams and memories with me from day to day. Some memories and thoughts or just fantasy feel the sweetness and promise of a new day dawning. Life is so full of diversity and change, some good days and some bad, and most of which we have no control of.

As you read some pages, you can almost hear the laughter and joy; others you may feel the heartbreak and tears. As in our life, we must search and find those precious moments or look back to those memories. Sometimes we find the joy in the searching rather than in the finding. There will be pages you connect with, and others will make you wonder. We all have that need to reach out and just know that we have been there. There is a healing in the written words to those whose hearts they speak to. So, as you thumb through these reflections of my life and thoughts, I hope that you feel the strength and courage that it takes to just live life. Sit back and feel the warmth of the sun or the freshness of the morning dew. Life is so worth living to the fullest of our ability. I hope this brings to mind all the memories and treasures hidden away and forgotten.

Come and take a real time walk with me, thru life as you journey thru the pages of this book. Laughter, tears and joys, all the emotions with memories and thoughts combined. You might feel the heartache and tears, with the triumph of growth. But thru it all, moving forward, I hope you find some similar to your own inner most thoughts at times. Take time to read and reread if you want too, the many mood and emotions I have felt, as the shadows of my mind unfolded, onto these pages.

But there is always a ray of sunshine, with a hope for tomorrow.