Elizabeth Scala is Ellen Clayton Garwood Centennial Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin.[1] A medievalist by training, she specializes in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, particularly his Canterbury Tales.[2][3]
In the fall of 2022, a course she offered on the songwriting of Taylor Swift drew global attention, with Scala providing interviews to media outlets such as CNN, Billboard, Newsweek, NPR, BBC Radio 4, the New York Post, and PinkNews.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Titled Literary Contexts and Contests: The Taylor Swift Songbook, this course examined Swift's lyrics alongside those of canonical writers like William Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath, as well as Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca and Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 filmic adaptation of that novel.[11] [12] Although Swift had earlier been the focus of a New York University course which explored her musical entrepreneurship and celebrity,[13] Scala's emphasis on the literary devices of Swift's songs was among the first sustained efforts to place their lyrics in relation to the Western canon of literature.[14][11]
Scala's scholarship includes The Canterbury Tales Handbook published by W. W. Norton & Company and Desire in the Canterbury Tales from Ohio State University Press.[15]
References
edit- ^ "Profile for Elizabeth Scala at UT Austin". University of Texas. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ Scala, Elizabeth (2009). "The Women in Chaucer's "Marriage Group"". Medieval Feminist Forum. 45: 50–56. doi:10.17077/1536-8742.1766.
- ^ Smith, Peter J. (June 25, 2015). "Desire in the Canterbury Tales, by Elizabeth Scala". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ Karimi, Faith (August 25, 2022). "The University of Texas is offering a class on the songs of Taylor Swift". CNN. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ Dailey, Hannah (August 24, 2022). "A 'Taylor Swift Songbook' Class Is Being Offered at the University of Texas". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ Mayer, Hannah (August 22, 2022). "Taylor Swift is Latest Addition to Shakespeare Scholar's Course Offerings". Newsweek. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ Tong, Scott; Saxena, Kalyani (December 8, 2022). "How one English professor 'Enchanted' students with a course about Taylor Swift songs". WBUR. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ "Prof. Scala @ BBC 4". YouTube. August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ Messier, Ashlyn (August 23, 2022). "Educational Taylor Swift course offered to students at University of Texas this fall". Fox News. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ Iftikhar, Asyia (August 31, 2022). "Professor explains why Taylor Swift university course is no waste of money". PinkNews. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ a b Scala, Elizabeth (November 18, 2022). "Why I teach a course connecting Taylor Swift's songs to the works of Shakespeare, Hitchcock and Plath". The Conversation. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ Saldana, Sean (September 7, 2022). "This University of Texas professor knows Taylor Swift's songbook all too well". Texas Standard. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ Aswad, Jem (February 2, 2022). "Taylor Swift Course Launched at New York University's Clive Davis Institute". Retrieved August 27, 2023.
- ^ Menchaca, Megan (September 22, 2022). "A Taylor Swift class is coming to the University of Texas. Are you ready for it?". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
- ^ "The Canterbury Tales Handbook". wwnorton.com. Retrieved December 8, 2022.