Lauren Silberman

Professor

Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

Department: English

Areas of expertise: Renaissance literature

Email Address: lauren.silberman@baruch.cuny.edu

> View CV

Education

Ph.D., English, Yale University

MPhil, English, Yale University

B.A., English, Smith College

SemesterCourse PrefixCourse NumberCourse Name
Fall 2024ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2024ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2024ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2024ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2024ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2023ENG3720Women in Literature
Fall 2023ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2023ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Spring 2023ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2023ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2022ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2022ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2021ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2021ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2021ENG4160Renaissance Poetry
Fall 2020ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2020ENG3720Women in Literature
Spring 2020ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2020ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2019ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2019ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2019ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Spring 2019ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2019ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2019ENG2800HHon Great Works of Lit I
Fall 2018ENG2800HHon Great Works of Lit I
Fall 2018ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2018ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2018ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2018ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2017ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2017ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2017ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Spring 2017ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2017ENG4140Shakespeare
Fall 2016ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2016ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2016ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2016ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2016ENG4140Shakespeare
Fall 2015ENG3720Women in Literature
Fall 2015ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2015ENG2800HHon Great Works of Lit I
Spring 2015ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2015ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2014ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2014ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2014ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2013ENG4140Shakespeare
Spring 2013ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2012ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2012ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2012ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2012ENG3950Topics in Literature
Spring 2012ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2011ENG4700Satire Through Ages
Fall 2011ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2011ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2011ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2011ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2010ENG3720Women in Literature
Fall 2010ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2010ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2010ENG4160Renaissance Poetry
Spring 2010ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2009ENG4700Satire Through Ages
Fall 2009ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2009ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2009ENG3950Topics in Literature
Spring 2009ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2008ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2008ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2008ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2008ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2008ENG4700Satire Through Ages
Fall 2007ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2007ENG2800HHon Great Works of Lit I
Spring 2007ENG3720Women in Literature
Spring 2007ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2006ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2006ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2006ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Spring 2006ENG3950Topics in Literature
Spring 2006ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2005ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Fall 2005ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2005ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2005ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2005ENG4700Satire Through Ages
Fall 2004ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2004ENG3010Survey of English Literature I
Spring 2004ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2004ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2004ENG4150Renaissance Drama
Spring 2004ENG2800HHon Great Works of Lit I
Fall 2003ENG3950Topics in Literature
Fall 2003ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2003ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2003ENG2150Writing II
Spring 2003ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2003ENG4700Satire Through Ages
Spring 2002ENG2150Writing II
Spring 2002ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Spring 2002ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2001ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2001ENG2800Great Works of Literature I
Fall 2001ENG3720Women in Literature

Books

Silberman, L. (2018). Transforming Desire: Erotic Knowledge in Books III and IV of The Faerie Queene (rpt.). Berkeley, CA, US, University of California Press.

Silberman, L., Cheney, P. G., Cheney, P., & Silberman, L. (2000). Worldmaking Spenser: Explorations in the Early Modern Age . (p. 288). Lexington: U of Kentucky P.

Silberman, L. (1995). Transforming Desire: Erotic Knowledge in Books III and IV of the Faerie Queene. (p. 189). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Journal Articles

Silberman, L. (2024). “Whence comes this restraint?” The Perils of Political Theology in Measure for Measure. Renaissance Papers,

Silberman, L. (2020). Growing Up in Epic: Transformations of the Doloneia. Spenser Studies: A Renaissance Poetry Annual, 34. 167-175.

Silberman, L. (2012). "Aesopian Prosopopoia: Making Faces and Playing Chicken in Mother Hubberds Tale". Spenser Studies: a Renaissance Poetry Annual, 27. 221-248.

Silberman, L. (2008). "'Perfect Hole': Spenser and Greek Romance". Spenser Studies: a Renaissance Poetry Annual, 23. 283-291.

Silberman, L. (2004). "The Faerie Queene, Book V and the Politics of the Text." Spenser Studies . AMS Press, 19. 1-16.

Silberman, L. (1993). Spenser's Faerieland Meets the Land of Oz." Studies in Popular Culture. Popular Culture Association of the South , 15. 29-33.

Silberman, L. (1990). "To Write Sorrow in Johnson's On My First Sonne." John Donne Journal . John Donne Journal, 9. 149-156.

Silberman, L. (1988). "Mythographic Transformations of Ovid's Hermaphrodite". The Sixteenth Century Studies/Northeast Missouri State University , 19. 643-652.

Silberman, L. (1988). "Spenser and Ariosto: Funny Peril and Comic Chaos". Comparative Literature Studies/Pennsylvania State University , 25. 23-34.

Silberman, L. (1987). "The Faerie Queene, Book II and the Limitations of Temperance". Modern Language Studies/Northeast Modern Language Association , 17. 9-22.

Silberman, L. (1987). "The Hermaphrodite and the Metamorphosis of Spenserian Allegory". English Literary Renaissance/University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 17. 207-223.

Silberman, L. (1986). "God and Man in Oedipus Rex". College Literature/West Chester State Coll., 13. 292-299.

Book Chapters

Silberman, L. (2013). "Aesopian Prosopopoia: Making Faces and Playing Chicken in Mother Hubberds Tale". In Prescott, A. L., & Hadfield, A. (Eds.), Edmund Spenser's Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition New York, NY,USA. W.W. Norton.

Silberman, L. (2009). Taking Another Peek. In Levine, N., & Miller, D. L. (Eds.), Fordham University Press (pp. 104-114). New York, NY, USA. Fordham University Press.

Silberman, L. (1996). "Singing Unsung Heroines: Androgynous Discourse in Book III of The Faerie Queene". In Hadfield, A. (Ed.), Longman Critical Reader on Spenser (pp. 134-148). Longman.

Silberman, L. (1996). "The Hermaphrodite and the Metamorphosis of Spenserian Allegory". In Suzuki, M. (Ed.), Critical Essays on Edmund Spenser (pp. 152-167). G.K. Hall.

Silberman, L. (1990). Hermaphrodite. In Hamilton, A. C., Cheney, D., Blisset, W., Richardson, D., & Baker, W. W. (Eds.), Spenser Encyclopedia Toronto, Canada. University of Toronto Press.

Silberman, L. (1986). "Singing Unsung Heroines: Androgynous Discourse in Book III of the Faerie Queene." Rewriting the Renaissance: The Discourses of Sexual Difference in Early Modern Europe. In Ferguson, M. W., Quilligan, M., & Vickers, N. (Eds.), (pp. 259-271). U of Chicago P.

Presentations

Silberman, L. (2025, March 28). "The Comedy of Remarriage and the Conversion of the World in Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Renaissance Society of America/Shakespeare Association of America (joint conference). Boston, MA: Renaissance Society of America.

Silberman, L. (2025, September 28). “Whence comes this restraint?” The Perils of Political Theology in Measure for Measure. Southeastern Renaissance Conference. Charleston, South Carolina: Citadel.

Silberman, L. (2025, March 28). Looking up from a Naughty World: Negotiating Salvation History in Merchant of Venice. Columbia Shakespeare Seminar.

Silberman, L. (2020, February 20). "Shakespeare's "Rape of Lucrece": Resisting the Narrative. Works-in-Progress. New York, NY: Baruch College English Department.

Silberman, L. (2020, March 10). "'Perchance his boast of Lucrece’sov’reignty': The Rape of Lucrece and the Political Subject". Columbia University Seminar in the Renaissance. New York City: Columbia University--University Seminars.

Silberman, L. (2019, October 20). Chair of Session, Spenser and His Contemporaries. Sixteenth Century Society Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO: Sixteenth Century Society.

Silberman, L. (2019, October 20). Personal and Political: Spenser vs. Marlowe in The Rape of Lucrece. Sixteenth Century Society Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO: Sixteenth Century Society.

Silberman, L. (2018, October 27). "The Rape of Lucrece and the Sovereign Subject". Shakespeare and his Sources. Farleigh Dickinson University, Florham, NJ: Columbia University Seminar on Shakespeare.

Silberman, L. (2017, May 13). Presider, Passionate and Penetential Instruction. Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: Spenser Sessions at Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (2016, May 13). Celebration of Anne Lake Prescott. Spenser Sessions at Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: International Spenser Society/Spenser at Kalamazoo.

Silberman, L. (2014, May 9). Introduction of Kathleen Williams Lecture. Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: International Spenser Society/Spenser Sessions at Kalamazoo.

Silberman, L. (2014, March 28). Chair of "Sidney and Spenser Studies in Tribute to T.P. Roche III__Spenser's Poetics and its Influence. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. New York City: Renaissance Society of America.

Silberman, L. (2014, October 16). Shakespeare and Spenserian Monsters of the Mind. Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference. New Orleans, LA: Sixteenth-Century Studies Association.

Silberman, L. (2011, January 31). "Duelling Poets: Marlowe vs. Spenser in The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure". MLA. Los Angeles: MLA.

Silberman, L. (2009, May 31). "Aaron, the Brother Who Proves the Rule: Typological Negotiations in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus". Hebraic Aspects of the Renaissance. Haifa, Israel: University of Haifa.

Silberman, L. (2008, March 31). "Redeeming Romance Time in Cymbeline". Shakespeare Association of America. Dallas, Texas: Shakespeare Association of America.

Silberman, L. (2007, March 31). Allegory and its Discontents in Titus Andronicus. Medieval/Renaissance Colloquium. Yale University , New Haven, CT: Yale Department of English.

Silberman, L. (2006, October 31). Taking Another Peek. Disturbing Complicities in honor of Harry Berger Jr.. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina.

Silberman, L. (2006, May 31). Spenser's Civilizations. Roundtable Discussion. University of Toronto, Toronto: International Spenser Society and Department of English.

Silberman, L. (2006, March 31). Humanities for Humans. Keynote lecture for "Being Human: Taking the Humanities Beyond the Classroom. Fredonia: SUNY.

Silberman, L. (2006, December 31). Augustinian Counter-history and the Massacre of Innocents in Titus Andronicus. MLA. Philadelphia

Silberman, L. (2006, March 31). Greek Romance on the Renaissance Page and Stage. Panel on "Renaissance Prose Romance: Canon and Contexts". San Francisco: Renaissance Society of America.

Silberman, L. (2005, May 31). Amoret's Perfect Hole: A Source for Faerie Queene 3.12.38.9 That Probably Has Not Occurred to You. Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI

Silberman, L. (2005, December 31). Making Faces and Playing Chicken in Spenser's Mother Hubberds Tale. Hugh Maclean Memorial Lecture, MLA. Washington, D.C.: International Spenser Society.

Silberman, L. (2003, December 31). Shakespeare Reads Spenser in Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure. MLA. San Diego

Silberman, L. (2002, May 31). Political Reading in Book V of The Faerie Queene. Kathleen Williams Memorial Lecture. Kalamazoo, MI: Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (2001, July 31). Chair of workshop on The Faerie Queene, Book III. Spenser 2000. Cambridge England: International Spenser Society.

Silberman, L. (2000, May 31). Why Does Spenser Matter. Medieval Institute. Kalamazook: Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (1999, December 31). Chair of Panel, Spenser and Scripture: Transaction of the Sacred and Secular. MLA. Chicago

Silberman, L. (1999, May 31). Spenerian Intertexts: Classical, Continental, English. Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (1998, October 31). Sexual Politics and Political Constructions. Columbia Renaissance Seminar. Columbia University, New York, NY

Silberman, L. (1998, December 31). Chair of Panel, Spenser as Reader and Read. MLA. San Francisco: International Spenser Society.

Silberman, L. (1996, September 30). Co-chair session, "The Afterlife of the Poem". The Faerie Queene in the World, 1596-1996: Edmund Spenser among the Disciplines. Yale University , New Haven, CT: Yale Center for British Art.

Silberman, L. (1993, April 30). Going with the Flow in Book IV of the Faerie Queene. Renaissance Society of America. Kansas City, MO

Silberman, L. (1993, May 31). Chair of Lecuture by Donald Cheney, "Spenser's Undergoing of Ariosto". Kathleen Williams Memorial Lecture. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (1992, May 31). Chair of Session, Looking Back: Vergil and Ovid. Medieval Institute. Kalamazook MI

Silberman, L. (1991, April 30). The Disappearance of Spenser's Hermaphrodite. Columbia Renaissance Seminar. Columbia University, New York, NY

Silberman, L. (1991, February 28). Spenser's Construction of the Feminine. Society for the Study of Women in the Renaissance. New York, NY: CUNY Graduate Center.

Silberman, L. (1990, September 30). Teaching Spenser to Undergraduates. Spenser 400. Princeton: NEH.

Silberman, L. (1990, December 31). Cancelling the Hermaphrodite. MLA. Chicago

Silberman, L. (1988, March 31). Inscribing Loss in Jonson's 'On My First Sonne. SUNY, Albany: English Dept..

Silberman, L. (1988, March 31). Chair and response to session "Rome Translated". Renaissance Society of America. New York

Silberman, L. (1987, October 31). Response to Session, "The Faerie Queene and Mortal Woman". Sixteenth Century Studies Conference. Tempe AZ: Arizona State University.

Silberman, L. (1986, February 28). Narcissus into Hermaphrodite: Spenserian Allegory Moralizes Ovid. Columbia Renaissance Seminar. Columbia University, New York, NY

Silberman, L. (1986, May 31). Britomart and Bradamante: Nihilism is Easy. Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (1985, December 31). Spenser's Hermaphrodite: Ovid Moralized. MLA. Chicago: International Spenser Society.

Silberman, L. (1984, May 31). The Faerie Queene, Book II: A Surfeit of Temperance. Medieval Institute. Kalamazoo, MI: Spenser Sessions at the Medieval Institute.

Silberman, L. (1982, March 31). Singing Unsung Heroines: Androgynous Discourse in Book III of the Faerie Queene. "Renaissance Woman/Renaissnace Man: The Creation of Culture and Society. Yale University , New Haven, CT: Yale University.

Other Scholarly Works

Silberman, L. (1991). Abstracts of Spencer papers at Medieval Institute. 2219-27.

Reviews

Silberman, L. (2013,April 1). Review of Victor Skretkowicz, European Erotic Romance: Philhellene Protestantism, Renaissance Translation and English Literary Politics. The Spenser Review.

Silberman, L. (2005,January 1). Review of Andrew Escobedo. Nationalism and Historical Loss in Renaissance England. Renaissance Quarterly.

Silberman, L. (2004,January 1). Review of Bart Van Es. Spenser's Forms of History. Renaissance Quarterly.

Silberman, L. (1998,January 1). Review of Julia Lupton. Afterlives of the Saints: Hagiography, Typology and Renaissance Literature. Comparative Literature Studies.

Silberman, L. (1996,January 1). Review of John Watkins. The Spector of Dido, Spencer and Virgilian Epic.. The Sixteenth Century Studies.

Silberman, L. (1995,January 1). Review of Kari Weil. Andgrogyny and Denial of Difference. Comparative Literature Studies.

Silberman, L. (1995,January 1). Review of Robert Lane. Shepheards Devises: Edmund Spenser's Shepheards Calendar and the Institutions of Elizabethan Society. Renaissance Quarterly.

Silberman, L. (1992,January 1). Review of David Miller. The Poem's Two Bodies: The Poetics of the 1590 Faerie Queene. Renaissance Quarterly.

Research Currently in Progess

Silberman, L.(n.d.). Redeeming Lucretia: Political Theology and Salvation History in Shakespeare. In Progress.

TitleFunding Agency SponsorStart DateEnd DateAwarded DateTotal FundingStatus
Spenser vs. Marlowe in Merchant of Venice and Measure for MeasurePSC-CUNY 4107/01/201006/30/20113990Completed
Shakespeare as AllegoristPSC-CUNY 3907/01/200812/31/20093750Completed
Spenser’s Prosopopoia: Making Faces and Playing ChickenPSC-CUNY 3807/01/200706/30/20083990Completed
Honor / AwardOrganization SponsorDate ReceivedDescription
Release time for researchBaruch2016Work on article, "Writing and Rewriting Lucretia: Sources and Transformations of Shakespeare's Lucrece" to form part of first chapter of my book on Shakespearean political allegory.
Release timeBaruch2015Continue work on my book, Allegory and its Discontents in Shakespearean Drama
Fellowship leave for researchBaruch College2013My book considers how Shakespeare draws on allegory as a way of thinking about representations of the political subject as he channels a complex tradition of republican political thought.
Research FellowshipPSC-CUNY2011
Research FellowshipPSC-CUNY2008
Research FellowshipPSC-CUNY2007$3,690
Release time for research 20051985-2005
Research FellowshipPSC-CUNY1997$6,500
NEH Summer Seminar, The Figure of the Jew in Early Modern EnglandSUNY-Stony Brook1996$3,000
Funded Research Incentive AwardBaruch College1992$200
Fellowship leave (half pay)Baruch College1991
Research Fellowship AwardPSC-CUNY1991$3,690
Creative Incentive AwardPSC-CUNY1990$200
Research Fellowship AwardPSC-CUNY1990$3,690
NEH Spenser InstitutePrinceton1989$3,000
Presidential Award for Excellence in ScholarshipBaruch College1989$1,000
Isabel MAcCaffrey AwardSpenser Society of America1988
NEH Summer Seminar Sidney and Romance, Princeton1988$3,000
Grant-in-AidFolger Library1988Grant of $212 to participat in workshop on Reading Shakespeare Historically
Research Fellowship AwardPSC-CUNY1987$2,930
Yale University Fellowship19771972-77
Degree magna cum laudeSmith College1971
Miss Montague Award (best essay on 18th cent women)Smith College1971
National Honor Society Scholarship19711967-71
National Merit Scholarship19711967-71
Phi Beta Kappa Smith College1971

College

Committee NamePosition RoleStart DateEnd Date
Curriculum CommitteeCommittee ChairPresent
Curriculum CommitteeCommittee Member12/31/2012
Executive CommitteeCommittee Member6/30/2012
Social Events Committee12/31/2007
School Academic Review Committee12/31/2004
Curriculum CommitteeCommittee Chair12/31/2004
Department Committee on HonorsCommittee Chair12/31/1998
Baruch College Association Board of Directors12/31/1997
Executive Committee, LAS12/31/1993
Curriculum Committee, English Dept.12/31/1992
Faculty Senate12/31/1991
Undegraduate Financial Aid Committee12/31/1990
Committee on Undergraduate Honors, LAS12/31/1988
Composition Committee, English Dept.12/31/1988
English Dept.Secretary 12/31/1986

Public

OrganizationPosition RoleOrganization StateOrganization CountryStart DateEnd DateAudience
Shakespeare Association of America1/1/1995Present
Spenser StudiesBoard Member1/1/1993Present
Renaissance Society of America 1/1/1987Present
MLA1/1/1975Present
Porlock Society1/1/1984Present
Spenser Society1/1/1982Present
Columbia Renaissance Seminar 5/1/1986Present