Nate Eastman, Ph.D.

About me

I’m interested in stories, and especially Shakespearean stories. They’re surprisingly complicated. A great storyteller has something perceptive to tell us about the hows and whys of life–the most complicated subject there is. And they translate this into the plain language and relatable events of plays, novels, comics and film. That is a monumentally difficult and technically intricate process.

This matters because life is complicated, and great stories–or a great relationships with great stories–can help you make sense of it in ways that are intellectually, emotionally and psychologically meaningful. The more you understand about how stories are put together, the more attentive you can be to what they have to offer.

Education

• Ph.D., Lehigh University
• M.A., Lehigh University
• B.A., Bowling Green State University

Professional memberships

• Modern Language Association
• Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies
• Shakespeare Association of America
• Renaissance Society of America

Research projects

Shakespeare’s Storytelling came out in February 2021. It explores a handful of the storytelling techniques that Shakespeare developed and how those techniques have been used by modern writers–think N.K. Jemisin, Stephen King and August Wilson.

Right now, I’m working on a book that shows how three of Shakespeare’s plays–A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and King Lear–have been especially influential. In writing them, Shakespeare developed a set of storytelling techniques that have been almost universally adopted by later writers.

Scholarly interests

I’m also interested in how Shakespeare can help improve communities’ civic, artistic and economic qualities of life. As vice president of the Richmond Shakespeare Festival, I get to do this directly, through our educational outreach programs, our Shakespeare in the Park events and our flagship summer productions.

Published works

Books and Chapters

Shakespeare’s Storytelling. Cham: Palgrave, 2021.

“Genre Traditions in Renaissance Literary Criticism.” Renaissance Literature Handbook. Ed. Rebecca Steinberger.  London:  Continuum, 2009.    

Economies of Famine. Saarbrücken: Verlag, 2009.    

Shakespeare and the Great Dearth. Saarbrücken: Verlag, 2008.

“Famine.” The Business of Food.  Eds. Ken Albala and Gary Allen. New York: Greenwood, 2008.    

“Skelton’s ‘Lullay, lullay,’” “Skelton’s ‘Womanhood, wanton,’” and “Fourteeners.”  Companion to Pre-1600 British Poetry.  Ed. Michelle M. Sauer.  New York: Facts on File, 2007.

“Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar” and “Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.” Eds. Tracy Caldwell, Robert Puchalik.  Albany:  Whitston/Great Neck Publishing, 2007.

Articles

“After the Ph.D.”  The Drowner: Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press,  2010.

“Looking for Shakespeare.”  Bounce Magazine. Sydney: DCB Publications, February 2010.

“The Rumbling Belly Politic: Metaphorical Location and Metaphorical Government in Coriolanus.” Early Modern Literary Studies. 13.1 (Fall 2007)

“Our Institutions, Our Selves:  Rethinking Classroom Performance and Signification.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 28: 297-308 (2006).