Zachary Lesser
Edward W. Kane Professor of English
Zachary Lesser is the Edward W. Kane Professor of English. A leading scholar in English Renaissance drama and the history of the book, Professor Lesser is a general editor of The Arden Shakespeare. Professor Lesser is known for his early contributions to the digital humanities, including co-creating DEEP: Database of Early English Playbooks, launched in 2007 as an online resource for studying the printing, publishing, and marketing of Renaissance drama. Both of his books, Hamlet after Q1: An Uncanny History of the Shakespearean Text and Renaissance Drama and the Politics of Publication: Readings in the English Book Trade, won the Elizabeth Dietz Award for the best book of the year in early modern literary studies, making him the only two-time winner of the prize. His new book, Ghosts, Holes, Rips and Scrapes: Shakespeare in 1619, Bibliography in the Longue Durée, will appear soon from Penn Press.
About the Donor
Edward W. Kane, C’71 and Martha J. Wallace
This professorship was established by Edward W. Kane, C’71 and Martha J. Wallace to recruit or retain a preeminent scholar and teacher in the Department of English.
