Back to top

Photograph of Benjamin Djain

Benjamin Djain Professorial Lecturer Literature

Contact
Benjamin Djain
CAS | Literature
Battelle-Tompkins T51
Tuesdays and Fridays 11am-12:45pm and 2:15-3:45pm or by appointment
Degrees
PhD in English Literature, The Catholic University of America, 2019.
MA(Hons) in English, The University of Auckland, 2013.
BA(Hons) in English, The University of Auckland, 2012.
BA in English and European Studies, The University of Auckland, 2011.

Languages Spoken
English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Bio
Benjamin Djain is a Professorial Lecturer in the Writing Program and the Department of Literature at AU. He is a comparative early modernist who focuses on English and Spanish theatre. Professor Djain's current research interests are focused on the legacies of inwardness and self-talk in early modern English and Spanish theatre, the intersections between traditional literary scholarship and newly emerging digital tools, and multimodality. His doctoral dissertation, "The soliloquy in Shakespeare and Lope de Vega," was completed in May 2019.
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call 国产小呦女Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.

Teaching

Spring 2024

  • LIT-204 Hidden Figures/Cultural Calcul

  • LIT-232 Shakespeare: Shakespeare and Performance

  • WRT-100 College Writing

Fall 2024

  • LIT-125 Lit Classics & Western Culture

  • LIT-204 Hidden Figures/Cultural Calcul

  • WRT-101 College Writing Seminar

Partnerships & Affiliations

  • Renaissance Society of America
    Member

  • Association for Hispanic Classical Theater
    Member

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Research Interests

  • 16th and 17th Century English and Spanish Theatre
  • Soliloquies, interiority and selfhood in the early modern period
  • Multimodality
  • Quantitative methods in the humanities
  • Intersections between humanities scholarship and emerging digital tools

Professional Presentations

  • 鈥淲ho am I talking to exactly? Soliloquy, dialogues, and the solution to self-doubt.鈥 Sixteenth Century Society & Conference 2023. Baltimore, Maryland. October 2023.
  • 鈥淟ope de Vega鈥檚 soliloquies and performance: a different paradigm.鈥 Renaissance Society of America 2023. San Juan, Puerto Rico. March 2023
  • 鈥淢yths and Maidens.鈥 Talkback on the folklore and mythological origins of La Llorona after a performance of Gabby Wolfe鈥檚 La Llorona. We Happy Few Theater Company. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Washington DC. November 2022.
  • 鈥淪pace vs. Cyberspace: Contextualizing Digital Tools in a Physical Classroom.鈥 Ann Ferren Conference on Teaching, Research, and Learning. January 2022.
  • Talkback and interview on a performance of William Shakespeare鈥檚 Macbeth. We Happy Few Theater Company. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Washington DC. March 2019.
  • 鈥淏ridging the Armada: The soliloquy in early Shakespeare and early Lope.鈥 College English Association: Mid-Atlantic Group Conference. University of District Columbia. March 2018.
  • Talkback and interview on a performance of Lope de Vega鈥檚 El perro del hortelano (The dog in the manger). We Happy Few Theater Company. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Washington DC. November 2017.
  • 鈥淗aunted by Doubt: The English Reformation鈥檚 Search for a New Theatrical Identity.鈥 21st International Conference of Europeanists, Washington D.C. March 2014.
  • 鈥溾淓xternal vs. Internal Worlds: Comparing Christopher Marlowe鈥檚 Doctor Faustus with Mira de Amescua鈥檚 El Esclavo del Demonio (The Slave of the Devil).鈥 Inaugural National Symposium for Postgraduate Researchers: Languages, Literatures, and Intercultural Studies, The University of Auckland. October 2012.

Selected Publications

鈥淩eview of Lope de Vega鈥檚 La prueba de los ingenios.鈥 Comedia Performance 19 (2022): 201-204.

鈥淩eview of Lope de Vega鈥檚 A Wild Night in Toledo.鈥 Comedia Performance 18 (2021): 130-133.

鈥淩eflective Artist鈥檚 Statement for Multimodal Assignments鈥 (with Angela Geosits). Writing Spaces Assignment and Activity Archive. (2021): https://writingspaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Djain-Geosits-AAA-contribution.pdf

鈥淓xternal vs. Internal Worlds: Comparing Christopher Marlowe鈥檚 Doctor Faustus with Mira de Amescua鈥檚 El Esclavo del Demonio (The Slave of the Devil).鈥 The European Connection 16 (2012): 1-11.