Dr Roberta Kwan
Medieval and Early Modern Centre
Roberta researches in early modern English literature, especially Shakespeare, with a focus on the intersections between literature, theology, philosophy and theatre. She is also interested in the philosophy of literary education.
In 2023, Edinburgh University Press published her monograph Shakespeare, the Reformation and the Interpreting Self. The book was shortlisted for the 2023 Australian University Heads of English Prize for Literary Scholarship and longlisted for the 2024 REFORC Book Award.
Shakespeare, the Reformation and the Interpreting Self is part of the Edinburgh Critical Studies in Shakespeare and Philosophy series. The book examines Shakespeare’s dramatizations of selfhood through the lens of a hermeneutical tradition that spans culture-shaping early modern religious beliefs about human knowing and pivotal philosophical ideas of our age. Shakespeare, the Reformation and the Interpreting Self offers fresh perspectives on critical questions about human beings’ finitude, agency, motivations and self-knowledge - questions that were of great relevance in Shakespeare’s England and which continue to frame present-day dilemmas and debates about human experience and human being.
Roberta is a 2024-25 Folger Short-term Scholarly Research Fellow, and she has held fellowships with ANZAMEMS, the Australian Academy of Humanities and ADM.
Roberta's current research is on ‘Shakespeare and neighbourliness’. She has taught widely within the disciplines of English and Writing Studies.
- early modern English literature , especially Shakespeare
- literature and theology
- literature and philosophy
- philosophy of literary education
- theatre
- Shakespeare and neighbourliness
- 2024-2025: Folger Shakespeare Institute Short-term Scholarly Research Fellow
- 2023: Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (ANZAMEMS) Early Career Fellowship: ‘Ancient Ethic for Uncertain Times: Reimagining Neighbourliness with Shakespeare’
- 2018: Australian Academy of the Humanities Travelling Fellowship
Selected publications
(Edinburgh University Press, 2023)
Publications
Books
- Kwan, R. (2023). Shakespeare, the Reformation and the Interpreting Self. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press. [More Information]
Book Chapters
- Kwan, R. (2025). The Neighbor (forthcoming). In Will Stockton (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Religion. London: Routledge.
Journals
- Kwan, R. (2018). Review: 'The Faith of William Shakespeare', by Graham Holderness; 'Words of Power: Reading Shakespeare and the Bible', by Jem Bloomfield. The Glass (Northwood): towards a Christian understanding of literature, (30), 58-61.
- Kwan, R. (2017). "Then Shalt Thou Se Clearly": The Hypocrites, Law and Mercy in "Measure for Measure". English Studies, 98(3), 223-243. [More Information]
- Kwan, R. (2016). "You are in the state of grace?" The Absence of Grace and Semantic Embranglement in Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida". English Studies, 97(4), 362-382. [More Information]
Reference Works
- Kwan, R. (2023). Neighbor (literature). In Constance M. Furey, Joel LeMon, Brian Matz, Thomas Romer, Jens Schroter, Barry Dov Walfish et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception: Volume 21 Negative Theology - Offspring. De Gruyter. [More Information]
2025
- Kwan, R. (2025). The Neighbor (forthcoming). In Will Stockton (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Religion. London: Routledge.
2023
- Kwan, R. (2023). Neighbor (literature). In Constance M. Furey, Joel LeMon, Brian Matz, Thomas Romer, Jens Schroter, Barry Dov Walfish et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception: Volume 21 Negative Theology - Offspring. De Gruyter. [More Information]
- Kwan, R. (2023). Shakespeare, the Reformation and the Interpreting Self. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press. [More Information]
2018
- Kwan, R. (2018). Review: 'The Faith of William Shakespeare', by Graham Holderness; 'Words of Power: Reading Shakespeare and the Bible', by Jem Bloomfield. The Glass (Northwood): towards a Christian understanding of literature, (30), 58-61.
2017
- Kwan, R. (2017). "Then Shalt Thou Se Clearly": The Hypocrites, Law and Mercy in "Measure for Measure". English Studies, 98(3), 223-243. [More Information]
2016
- Kwan, R. (2016). "You are in the state of grace?" The Absence of Grace and Semantic Embranglement in Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida". English Studies, 97(4), 362-382. [More Information]
2015
- Kwan, R. (2015). Of bread and wine, and ghosts: Eucharistic controversy and hamlet's epistemological quest. Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 62(1), 3-18. [More Information]
2012
- Kwan, R. (2012). Tim Winton's 'Cloudstreet' and the Wisdom of Qoheleth. Integrite: a faith and learning journal, 11(1), 58-77. [More Information]
2010
- Kwan, R. (2010). Figures of evil: Tim Winton's 'The Turning' and the Bible. The Glass (Northwood): towards a Christian understanding of literature, 22, 50-57.