海角社区

Q&A: Distinguished Research Master William Demastes

Demastes is an expert on modern and contemporary British and American theater and alumni professor at the 海角社区 Department of English.

04/03/2019

Were you always into drama?

I鈥檝e got to watch out because my joke is that I got interested in drama because I鈥檓 a slow reader and never would have made it through a novel specialty. But that鈥檚 not true. Well鈥攊t鈥檚 partly true.

My undergraduate degree was in philosophy. One of the things I didn鈥檛 particularly care about with philosophy was the rigor, the detailed approaches that led to dead ends everywhere. You argue pro, then con. It was intellectually stimulating, but it didn鈥檛 really take you places in the final analysis. I did that at Berkeley.

Then I moved back to Georgia, my home state, and got a literature degree before I moved out to the Midwest and the University of Wisconsin. My first impulse was to become a Shakespeare scholar. That was something that never left my interest, and it鈥檚 one of the funnest things I do here at 海角社区. I鈥檝e been teaching both the sophomore and upper division levels, both undergraduate, for probably 20 years. I learn new things from students all the time, and I learn new things from reading Shakespeare all the time.

Learning from your students, tell me more about that?

Generally, they just call me on things. If I become overly general or imprecise, they鈥檒l raise a hand, 鈥淓xcuse me!鈥� Closer reading鈥攚e try to teach that, but the best thing is when they call you on it. Using text to defend themselves, smart activities like that.

Thanks to students, I鈥檝e become a better writer, because I鈥檓 forced to think. What will the students say that could potentially challenge me? Backing up what I do is sort of a daily thing, and without that student input, you can become kind of sloppy as far as making arguments.

I need students to sound off of. I鈥檓 writing, but it would be more fun to be talking to them first, having them rolling their eyes or falling asleep when I鈥檓 boring the hell out of them.

As a matter of fact, I鈥檓 on sabbatical right now, and I hate it. Maybe I shouldn鈥檛 say that, but I do hate it because I鈥檓 not in front of a classroom. I need students to sound off of. I鈥檓 writing, but it would be more fun to be talking to them first, having them rolling their eyes or falling asleep when I鈥檓 boring the hell out of them. They鈥檙e quick judges of what makes sense and what doesn鈥檛. Without that right now, I鈥檓 going to town, thinking I鈥檓 probably a genius. But next fall, when I tell them what I鈥檝e been doing, I might find out that there鈥檚 a bunch I need to cut, or rewrite, or rethink.

Teaching isn鈥檛 theater, maybe, but the virtues of whatever you鈥檙e delivering in front of an audience can be quickly revealed.

Even if they don鈥檛 respond, you can hear it yourself!

One of the reasons I rely on students more than my colleagues, is that I like the idea of writing for people who are smart, but not specialists. I don鈥檛 want to write shorthand. If I think we鈥檙e already all thinking the same thing鈥攚ho knows? Have you thought about the foundations that you鈥檙e working on? With students, if you already know the answers and you ask them a question, you鈥檙e just setting them up to make a mistake, right?

Shakespeare is a fun one, because he never wrote liner notes. What does he mean when he says鈥� this? The door is open! And that鈥檚 how you get good discussion.

I don鈥檛 want to assume.

I鈥檓 going to assume, however, that you have a favorite play?

I鈥檝e read enough Hamlet that I鈥檝e reached a point where I think it鈥檚 the best play ever written. It鈥檚 got the best ideas, and it鈥檚 been written in the best possible way. But in almost every class, a student will say, 鈥淗amlet鈥檚 a bore. He鈥檚 a rotten human being, a mass murderer.鈥� And yes, how do you relate to a person who鈥檚 killed six, seven, eight people, who is responsible for their deaths? The students will say, 鈥淲hy is he such a crybaby? He鈥檚 a prince! He should be reveling in his wealth and comfort.鈥� They don鈥檛 necessarily see him as the great renaissance man.

When someone says 鈥淗amlet,鈥� you鈥檙e supposed to sit up and be reverential about it, but students aren鈥檛 all that reverential about things. If it doesn鈥檛 catch them, they will let you know.

You seem to truly appreciate your students?

I like publishing and I like research, but teaching is the most important to me. Students bring me back down out of monologue mode and into discussion mode, and that鈥檚 where the fun is. They keep pulling me off my pedestal. When they challenge me, that鈥檚 the best thing that happens in a classroom. And it鈥檚 the best thing for writing.

 

Meet our other Distinguished Research Master, George W. Barineau III Professor and Chair of the 海角社区 Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, Kam-biu Liu, an expert in the field of paleoenvironmental change鈥攃limate change that happened in the distant past, combining expansive perspectives of space and time with, for example, microscopic views of pollen.

 

Elsa Hahne
海角社区 Office of Research & Economic Development
225-578-4774
ehahne@lsu.edu