Jonathan Goossen
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Ambrose University
Canada
Biography
My teaching and research interests centre on the literature of the English Renaissance, especially the drama of Shakespeare and his fiery friend, Ben Jonson. An interest in them, though, invites a secondary one in the philosophy and literature of the ancient world. Most of my writing to date has treated the relationship of Aristotle’s Poetics to Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s comedies. I am particularly intrigued by classical and Renaissance literary theorists’ insistence on the unity of literature’s moral and emotional effect. Their apparently simple dictum that literature “teaches and delights” belies a sophisticated understanding of the effect of language, plot, and character upon the soul. In these and my other pursuits, I try, with the help of God, my wife, and children, to be good.
Research Interest
English
Publications
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“Review of Macbeth, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Bartholomew Fair, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, 2009.†Early Modern Literary Studies 15.1 (2009-10): 26 pages typescript.
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“‘The Disposition of Natures:’ Aristotle, Comedy, and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.†Animus: The Canadian Journal of Philosophy & the Humanities 15 (2011): 25 pages typescript.
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“Leaving ‘stoicity’ alone in Jonson’s Epicoene.†The Ben Jonson Journal 18.2 (2011): 164-86.
