Andrew
Majeske
Associate Professor
Room number
7.65.11NB
Education

PhD    University of California Davis

JD       Loyola University of Chicago   

MA      Duquesne University     

BA       John Carroll University

      

Bio

 

Andrew Majeske, associate professor of English, received his doctorate from the University of California Davis, where he worked at the intersection of law, literature & political philosophy, and studied under Margaret Ferguson and Larry Peterman. He also holds a law degree from Loyola University of Chicago, where he studied under George Anastaplo. He was a practicing attorney from 1986 to 1997. In 2006 his book entitled Equity in English Renaissance Literature: Thomas More and Edmund Spenser was published by Routledge Press. In 2009 his edited collection Justice, Women, and Power in English Renaissance Drama, was published by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Professor Majeske’s current scholarship directly connects literary texts with contemporary political-social and scientific (especially climate change related) developments. Essays and interviews arising out of this work include:

  • (forthcoming 2022) “Critical Introduction” to Literature, Law & The Idea of Justice, Vol 73, New American Studies Journal: A Forum.
  • (forthcoming 2022) “Amartya Sen & George Anastaplo on Literature, Law, and the Idea of Justice.” Vol. 73, New American Studies Journal: A Forum.
  • (forthcoming 2022) “A Question and Answer Exchange with Greta Olson on her new book, From Law and Literature to Legality and Affect. Vol. 73 New American Studies Journal: A Forum. (with Greta Olson)
  • (forthcoming 2022) “George Anastaplo: A Remembrance.” Vol. 73 New American Studies Journal: A
  • Forum.
  • (Book chapter) “Bacon’s New Atlantis and the Crisis of Western Liberalism.” Islands in Geography, Law, and Literature: A Cross-Disciplinary Journey. Vol 20 in series Law & Literature. Chiara Battisti, Sidia Fiorato, Matteo Nicolini, Thomas Perrin, eds. De Gruyter (2022) pp 31-50. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110770162-003
  •  
  • (Interview) Kim Stanley Robinson, “Climate Crisis and Writing in the Anthropocene.” New American Studies Journal: A Forum (Göttingen), Special Issue Title: "American Crises", 9 pp, doi.org/10.18422/72-42, web link, (open access). April 2022.
  •  
  • (Interview) Karen Korematsu, “Korematsu v. United States: “Wrong the Day it was Decided.”” New American Studies Journal: A Forum (Göttingen), Special Issue Title: "American Crises", 10 pp, doi.org/10.18422/72-30, web link, (open access). April 2022.
  •  
  • (Interview) Margaret Ferguson, David Simpson, Andrea Ross, “Does the Decline of the Humanities Track the Decline in Civil Society?” New American Studies Journal: A Forum (Göttingen), Special Issue Title: "American Crises", 24 pp, doi.org/10.18422/72-39, web link, (open access). April 2022.
  •  
  • (Book chapter) "Shakespeare's As You Like It and the Problems of Relativity." In Law and the Humanities: Cultural Perspectives (2109 De Gruyter, Eds Chiara Battisti & Sidia Fiorato). pp. 173-188.

  • (Journal article) “Donald Trump, American Caesarism & The Legacy of Leo Strauss.” American Studies Journal 65 Web. 12 Nov. 2018. DOI 10.18422/65-07.(Gottingen, Germany). This is an "Open Access" journal, and the article can be accessed here.

    A "Director's Cut" of this essay is available here.  Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer is the literary text dealt with in this essay--the title for this essay was proposed on the day before the New Hampshire Primary in February of 2016.

  • (Journal Article) "Women, Power & the Decline of the West: Richard Sherwin’s Ethical Wisdom, Krzysztof Koslowski’s Tricolor-Red, & Machiavelli’s Mandragola.” Pólemos (2018) 12.1, 185-20.

 

Professor Majeske has completed and is revising for eventual publication a fiction manuscript in which, within a scaffolding inspired by Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis, he weaves a narrative about Galileo's first public lecture, a 1588 address to the Florentine Academy on the assigned topic of comparing two competing geographies of Dante's Inferno.

Professor Majeske is based in the English Department, where the courses he teaches include Shakespeare and other Medieval and Early Modern literature offerings, various law and literature courses, Bible as Literature & Classical Literature. Professor Majeske also teaches in the Humanities and Justice Program where he has taught the Justice in the Western Tradition & Justice in the Non-Western Tradition courses. He has also taught the ‘Common Good’ themed seminar in John Jay’s Honor’s Program. Those students interested in going on to law school will be interested to know that in addition to his experience practicing law, he spent two years as one of the writers/test developers of the LSAT, and that he is currently teaching an online contracts course to masters of law students at McGeorge School of Law, and he has taught legal writing and appellate advocacy at Temple Law School. 

 

Courses Taught

John Jay College of Criminal Justice (current):

Lit 230 Classical Literature

Lit 231 Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Lit 260 Introduction to Literary Study

Lit 305 Foundations of Literature and Law

Lit 313 Shakespeare

Lit 314 Shakespeare and Justice

Lit 327 Crime & Punishment

Lit 362 The Bible as Literature

Lit 370 Topics in Ancient Literature: Plato’s Laws

Lit 372 Topics in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Lit 405 Senior Seminar in Literature and Law

HJS 250 Justice in the Western Tradition

HJS 310 Justice in the Non-Western Tradition

Honors 201 The Common Good

 

McGeorge School of Law (current):

Law 101: Contracts (for Masters of Law students)

 

CUNY Graduate Center:

Engl 71000/MALS 70500/WSCP 81000 English Early Modern/Renaissance Lyric Poetry

 

Drexel University (Pennoni Honor’s College):

Science, Math, and Literature

Machiavelli and Shakespeare

Law, Literature, and Film

 

Temple University Beasely School of Law:

Legal Writing & Appellate Advocacy

 

Mill College:

Shakespeare

 

University of California Davis:

ENL 043 Introductory Topics in Drama

ENL 117 Shakespeare (Middle Period)

English 1 (Expository Writing)

English 3 (Introduction to Literature)

UWP 101 (Advanced Composition)

UWP 104b (Legal Writing)

Freshman Seminar: The Rule of Law in Text and Context (2005)

Freshman Seminar: The Merchant of Venice (2004)

Professional Memberships

Executive Editorial Board Member, New American Studies Journal: A Forum (Gottingen, Germany)

Editorial Board Member, Law and Literature (Cardozo Law School)

 

 

 

Scholarly Work

Books:

Justice, Women, and Power in English Renaissance Drama. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2009. Coeditor and contributor.

Equity in English Renaissance Literature: Thomas More and Edmund Spenser: Series: Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory. New York: Routledge Press, 2006. (edited collection)

Journal Volumes:

(forthcoming 2022) Majeske, Andrew (Editor in Chief of issue). Literature, Law, & The Idea of Justice. New American Studies Journal: A Forum. Vol. 73. (a sneak preview of this issue is available at this link, see the paragraphs preceding the book review)

Majeske, A (Editor  in  Chief) (2010). John Jay College of Criminal Justice 2008 Literature and Law Conference Symposium. Literature and Law. University of California Press. 22.2

Recent Articles & Interviews:

"Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis and the Crisis of Western Liberalism.” Islands in Geography, Law, and Literature: A Cross-Disciplinary JourneyVol 20 in the series Law & Literature. Chiara Battisti, Sidia Fiorato, Matteo Nicolini, Thomas Perrin, eds. De Gruyter (2022) pp 31-50. This is an "Open Access" journal, and the article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110770162-003

"Shakespeare's As You Like It and the Problems of Relativity." In Law and the Humanities: Cultural Perspectives (2109 De Gruyter, Eds Chiara Battisti & Sidia Fiorato). pp. 173-188.

“Donald Trump, American Caesarism & The Legacy of Leo Strauss.” American Studies Journal 65 Web. 12 Nov. 2018. DOI 10.18422/65-07.(Gottingen, Germany). This is an "Open Access" journal, and the article can be accessed here  (Gottingen, Germany).

A "Director's Cut" of this essay is available here.  Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer is the literary text dealt with in this essay--the title for this essay was proposed on the day before the New Hampshire Primary in February of 2016.

"Women, Power & the Decline of the West: Richard Sherwin’s Ethical Wisdom, Krzysztof Koslowski’s Tricolor-Red, & Machiavelli’s Mandragola.”  Pólemos (2018) 12.1, 185-20.

“Unreliable Sources for Law: Dying Declarations in Shakespeare’s King John, Othello & King Lear,” Pólemos (2015) 19.1, 51-60.

“The Transformation of Lady Justice in Renaissance Europe.” Turn pre-ordinance and first decree into the law of children: Sapienza giuridica nel teatro shakespeariano.) R. Ruggiero and E. Siciliani (eds) Lecce-Brescia, Pensa Multimedia, 2012 (series: "Mandala. Diogenes 'tub") pages 151-162

“Equity’s Absence: The Extremity of Claudio’s Prosecution and Bernardine’s Pardon in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Law and Literature. University of California Press. 21.2 (Summer 2009) 169-184.

“Striking a Deal: Portia’s Trial Strategy in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice,” Justice, Women and Power, eds Andrew Majeske and Emily Doetmer Goebel, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2009, 153-173.

“Equity in Book V of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene.” Law and Literature. University of California Press. 18:1 (Spring 2006) 69-99.

Other Select Publications (on Legal Topics):

  • "The Greylord Investigation Guidelines: Protection for Greylord Attorneys?" Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, Spring 1985, pp. 641-664. Link here
  • “Parens Patria: Issues Relating To The Colorado River Boundary Between Grand Canyon National Park, The Hualapai Reservation, and the Navajo Nation.” Proceedings of the Grand Canyon History Symposium, 2002. Michael Anderson, ed. Grand Canyon: Grand Canyon Association. (2005) 171-176. Link here.
Honors and Awards

Alternate Candidate, Fulbright Scholar (Germany) 2022-2023

Charlotte Newcombe Dissertation Fellow, 2002-2003.

Huntington Library Francis Bacon Fellow, 2002. 

Research Summary

Research Summary (forthcoming conference papers and workshops):

Law Culture and Humanities (2022, Atlanta, Emory University)