Molly Hand

Associate Lecturer, Entrepreneur in Residence
Molly Hand
WMS 426
Early modern English literature, gender studies, ecocriticism, and animal studies; Editing, writing, and media

MOLLY HAND directs the Editing Internship Program in the English Department and teaches undergraduate courses such as Renaissance Poetry and Prose, the History of Illustrated Texts, and the History of Text Technologies. She regularly offers a graduate seminar in early modern English literature.

Her scholarly work focuses on animals, the environment, gender, and the occult in early modern English literature. She co-edited Animals, Animality, and Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2018), and her articles and essays appear in various journals and edited volumes. She is the book review editor for Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation.

After completing her Ph.D. in 2009, Dr. Hand worked outside of academia for several years, and she maintains an abiding interest in, and encourages conversation around, professionalism, internships and career preparation, and careers outside of academia.

SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS

  • “‘Sworn to Sweat’: Witchcraft, Labor, and Wicked Consumption in Middleton’s The Witch.” Studies in the Literary Imagination 54.1 & 2 (2021, published December 2023): 85-102.
  • “Teaching the History of Illustrated Texts: Broadside Ballads as Early Modern Memes.” In Teaching the History of the Book, edited by Emily Todd and Matteo Pangallo. Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book. University of Massachusetts Press, 2023.
  • “‘Why even bother?’ The defiant practice of the independent scholar.” In Doing Academic Careers Differently: Portraits of Academic Life, edited by Sarah Robinson, Alexandra Bristow, & Olivier Ratle. Routledge, 2023.
  • “‘To Kill Harmless Cattle’: Animal Victims and The Witch of Edmonton.” Early Theatre 24.2 (2021): 99–120.
  • “Familiar Pursuits: Women’s Occult Influences and Shakespeare’s Preternatural Bear in The Winter’s Tale.” Preternature 10.2 (2021): 195-217.
  • Animals, Animality, and Literature. Co-editor, with Bruce Boehrer and Brian Massumi. Cambridge Critical Concepts series. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
  • "Animals, the Devil, and the Sacred in Early Modern English Culture." In Animals, Animality, and Literature, edited by Boehrer, Hand, and Massumi. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
  • "'More lies than true tales': Skepticism in Middleton's Mock-Prognostications." In The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Middleton, edited by Gary Taylor and Trish Henley. Oxford University Press, 2012.
  • "'You take no labour': Women Workers of Magic in Early Modern England." In Working Subjects in Early Modern English Drama, edited by Michelle Dowd and Natasha Korda. Ashgate, 2011.
  • "'Now is hell landed here upon the earth': Renaissance Poverty and Witchcraft in Thomas Middleton's The Black Book." Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 31.1 (Winter 2008, published Summer 2008): 69-94.

REVIEWS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  • “The Bishop and the Rats (Emblem 46)” by Hester Pulter. Amplified edition. In The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making, edited by Leah Knight and Wendy Wall. 2023.
  • “Picturing Rats and Mice in Early Modern English Culture.” Curation, “The Bishop and the Rats (Emblem 46).” In The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making, edited by Leah Knight and Wendy Wall. 2023. http://pulterproject.northwestern.edu.
  • “Cures for Chance: Adoptive Relations in Shakespeare and Middleton, by Erin Ellerbeck.” Book Review. Shakespeare Quarterly 73.3-4 (Fall-Winter 2022): 348–50.
  • "Immateriality and Early Modern English Literature: Shakespeare, Donne, Herbert, by James A. Knapp." Book Review. Shakespeare Quarterly 72.3-4 (Fall-Winter 2021): 333–35.
  • "Works Excluded from This Edition." With Jennifer Keith. In The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Anne Finch, vol. 1, edited by Jennifer Keith. Cambridge University Press, 2021.
  • "Addiction and Devotion in Early Modern England, by Rebecca Lemon." Book Review. Early Modern Culture 14.1, Article 20 (2019): 210-13.
  • "Finland." Women's Lives Around the World: A Global Encyclopedia, Volume 4: Europe. ABC-CLIO Greenwood Press. 2018.
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream. Performance Review. Shakespeare Bulletin 33.3 (Fall 2015): 505-508.
  • Editor. Women's Writings on Christian Spirituality (a historical anthology). Dover Thrift Editions, 2013.
  • Doctor Faustus. Performance Review. Shakespeare Bulletin 31.1 (Spring 2013): 133-36.

Publications By This Author