Coppélia Kahn is Professor Emerita of English at Brown University. In 1961, Kahn earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors in English from Barnard College, then a Master of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley in 1964, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970.
After earning her Ph.D., Kahn held teaching positions at the University of California at Berkeley (1962-1971), the University of Massachusetts (1971-1972), Wesleyan University (1973-1986), Yale University (1983), the University of California, Los Angeles (1986-7), and finally at Brown University as full Professor from 1987-present. Over the course of her teaching carreer, Kahn has taught courses on feminist literary theory, psychoanalysis and literature, Shakespeare, Early Modern English drama, and women writers, among many other topics.
In addition to being a teacher, Coppélia Kahn is the author of Man's Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare (1981) and Roman Shakespeare: Warriors, Wounds, and Women (1997). She has published articles on Shakespeare's plays and poems, and on gender theory, Freud, Jacobean drama, and questions of race and nation in 20th century constructions of Shakespeare. She is co-editor of Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays (1980); Shakespeare's Rough Magic: Essays in Honor of C.L. Barber (1985); Making A Difference: Feminist Literary Criticism (1985); and Changing Subjects: The Making of Feminist Literary Criticism (1993). Her current research concerns the creation of Shakespeare as a cultural icon in the 19th and early 20th centuries in discourses of race and empire. In 2009, she was president of the Shakespeare Association of America.
At this conference Kahn led the first seminar to recognize feminist approaches to Shakespeare.
Papers of Coppélia Kahn, Professor Emerita of English at Brown University and scholar of Shakespeare, Early Modern English literature, and feminist literary theory. Papers consist of administrative files, conference materials, teaching materials, and draft writings dating from 1971 to 2019. Researchers studying teaching pedagogy of Early Modern English, psychoanalysis and literature, feminist literary criticism, and the history of women's studies in the academy may find this collection particularly useful. The processor created the arrangement and organized the collection into four series. Where possible, original folder titles have been maintained and appear in quotation marks; the processor created the remaining folder titles.
Series 1, ADMINISTRATIVE AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT, 1974-2016, includes correspondence, recommendations, grant and fellowship applications, and tenure dossiers. Of particular interest are the materials related to the First Folio: The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare exhibit of 2016. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.
Series 2, CONFERENCE MATERIALS, 1981-2019, includes handwritten notes, agendas, correspondence, and programs related to various conferences Kahn attended. Of particular note are the materials related to the Shakespeare Association of America annual meetings. This series is arranged alphabetically by conference title.
Series 3, TEACHING, 1971-2017, is arranged into 2 sub-series.
Series 3, sub-series 1, COURSE MATERIALS BY COURSE TITLE, 1976-2017 includes course descriptions, syllabi, handwritten lecture notes, readings, paper assignments and related material. This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by course title.
Series 3, sub-series 2, COURSE MATERIALS BY AUTHOR AS SUBJECT, 1971-2005, consists of similar files as found in sub-series 1, but is arranged alphabetically by author as subject. An example includes folder #3.16, "Brontë, Charlotte and Jane Eyre." This file consists of lecture notes, suggested paper topics for class assignments, and readings that Kahn used for various courses focusing on the novelist and poet, Charlotte Brontë. This sub-series is arranged alphabetically by author's last name.
Series 4, WRITINGS AND RELATED, 1987-2017, includes annotated typed and handwritten drafts of articles, books, chapters, reviews, and talks by Kahn in addition to related correspondence. Works include, "Caliban at the Stadium: Shakespeare and the Making of Americans,"
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the John Hay Library are requested to complete a Notice of Intent to Publish, prior to reproducing, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Coppélia Kahn papers, MS.2015.013, Box [#], Folder [#], Pembroke Center Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University.
The collection is arranged into 4 series.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Gift of Coppélia Kahn in 2015 and 2020.