Frye Will Give UW President's Series Lecture

Dec. 1, 1999 Susan Frye, associate professor in the University of Wyoming Department of English and adjunct professor of Women's Studies, will discuss "Screening the Queen: Queen Elizabeth I Goes to Hollywood" as the next featured speaker for the 1999 President's Speaker Series.

Her free public lecture begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, in Room 302 of the UW Classroom Building. A reception will follow at the UW Foundation House.

Frye is an internationally recognized scholar of the Elizabethan period. Her book, "Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation," was first published by Oxford University Press in 1993 and reprinted in a paperback edition in 1997. Frye's published research includes, with Karen Robertson, "Maids and Mistresses, Cousins and Queens: Women's Alliances in Early Modern England" (Oxford 1999), and articles on Elizabeth I, Renaissance women writers, the politics of needlework, and Shakespeare.

That two different actors would receive Oscar nominations for playing the same character is unprecedented. Yet in 1999, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench were both nominated for playing Elizabeth I. Frye says the films in which Blanchett and Dench starred, "Elizabeth" and "Shakespeare in Love," present a complementary contrast: the dark exploration of the young, politically vulnerable Elizabeth (Blanchett) and her court appeared first, forming a backdrop for the second film a lively romantic comedy where Shakespeare's language outweighs the separation of lovers, and in which the aging Elizabeth (Dench), by moving from court to city playhouse, figures as the arbiter of both language and lovers.

"When Hollywood presents us with such disturbing or delectable visions of the past, the films are cast within the genres of the industry," Frye says. "'Elizabeth,' for example, calls on the questionable loyalties and violent betrayals of the 'Godfather,' while 'Shakespeare in Love' recalls the depression era musical comedy whose 'Hey, let's put on a show' attitude stages the film against the realities of the outside world. As the two films reproduce and reinterpret these genres, which derive in part from the theater, they have a profound effect on how the queen is screened."

Frye joined the UW faculty in 1986. She received a B.A. degree from Smith College, an M.A. degree from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. degree from Stanford University. She teaches UW courses on Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, Freshman English, and has taught in the University Honors Program. In 1997, Frye was chair of the UW Faculty Senate.
In 1995, Frye received the Fred Slater Award for Excellence in Teaching freshman and sophomore English courses; and in 1999 for the third time received a "Top Prof" award from the UW chapter of Mortar Board, the national college senior honor society.

The UW President's Speakers Series acknowledges faculty members who are exemplary in balancing the University's educational, research and service goals; and who have made important contributions to the University's national standing. For more information, call the UW Office of Research at (307) 766 5353.

Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 1999

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