I'm an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania. You can see my
website at 

http://www.english.upenn.edu/~zlesser 

I teach Shakespeare and Renaissance literature, as well as the history of the book and
print culture.

Articles

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Early Modern Digital Scholarship and DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks (with Alan B. Farmer), Literature Compass (2008)
This paper discusses recent trends in digital resources for early modern literary studies, as well...
 

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The First Literary Hamlet and the Commonplacing of Professional Plays (with Peter Stallybrass), Shakespeare Quarterly (2008)
Considers the first ("bad") quarto of <i>Hamlet</i> as Shakespeare's first literary drama, in the context...
 

OpenURL

Mystic Ciphers: Shakespeare and Intelligent Design: A Response to Nancy Glazener, American Literary History (2007)
A discussion of the Shakespeare "authorship controversy" in relation to the "debate" over evolution and...
 

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Tragical-Comical-Pastoral-Colonial: Economic Sovereignty, Globalization, and the Form of Tragicomedy, ELH (2007)
I examine the politics of tragicomedy by focusing on its 1620s shift from pastoral to...
 

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Structures of Popularity in the Early Modern Book Trade (with Alan B. Farmer), Shakespeare Quarterly (2005)
Continues the discussion in "The Popularity of Playbooks Revisited," with a rejoinder to Peter W.M....
 

Books

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Textual Conversations in the Renaissance: Ethics, Authors, Technologies (with Benedict Robinson) (2006)
Edited collection of essays examining the Renaissance understanding of dialogue as it is shaped by...
 

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Renaissance Drama and the Politics of Publication: Readings in the English Book Trade (2004)
Shifting our focus from author to publisher and from first performance to first edition, this...
 

Contributions to Books

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Playbooks, The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture, vol 1: Britain and Ireland to 1660 (2009)
The history of playbooks in early modern England, for a general readership.
 

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Canons and Classics: Publishing Drama in Caroline England (with Alan B. Farmer), Localizing Caroline Drama, 1625–1642 (2006)
The publication of playbooks in the 1630s helped to shape a distinctive culture of Caroline...
 

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Copyright, Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature (2006)
Encyclopedia entry on the history of copyright.
 

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Typographic Nostalgia: Playreading, Popularity and the Meanings of Black Letter, The Book of the Play: Playwrights, Stationers, and Readers in Early Modern England (2006)
 

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William Shakespeare - The Life, Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature (2006)
Encyclopedia entry on the life of William Shakespeare.