Elizabeth Scala

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}} '''Elizabeth Scala''' is a Perceval Professor of Medieval Romance, Historiography & Culture at the University of Texas at Austin.<ref>{{cite web |title=Profile for Elizabeth Scala at UT Austin |url=https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/english/faculty/scalaed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215111006/https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/english/faculty/scalaed |archive-date=February 15, 2025 |access-date=February 15, 2025 |website=liberalarts.utexas.edu}}</ref> A medievalist by training, she specializes in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, particularly his Canterbury Tales.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.17077/1536-8742.1766 | title=The Women in Chaucer's "Marriage Group" | year=2009 | last1=Scala | first1=Elizabeth | journal=Medieval Feminist Forum | volume=45 | pages=50–56}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Peter J. |date=2015-06-25 |title=Desire in the Canterbury Tales, by Elizabeth Scala |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/book-review-desire-in-the-canterbury-tales-by-elizabeth-scala |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Times Higher Education (THE) |language=en}}</ref>

In the fall of 2022, a course she offered on the songwriting of Taylor Swift drew global attention, with Scala providing interviews to media outlets such as CNN, ''Billboard'', Newsweek, NPR, BBC Radio 4, the ''New York Post'', and ''PinkNews''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Karimi|first=Faith | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/25/entertainment/taylor-swift-course-university-texas-cec/index.html | title=The University of Texas is offering a class on the songs of Taylor Swift | website=CNN | date=25 August 2022 |access-date=August 27, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dailey |first=Hannah |date=2022-08-24 |title=A 'Taylor Swift Songbook' Class Is Being Offered at the University of Texas |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-songbook-class-offered-university-of-texas-1235130293/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Mayer|first=Hannah| url=https://www.newsweek.com/taylor-swift-latest-addition-university-texas-course-offering-1735821 | title=Taylor Swift is Latest Addition to Shakespeare Scholar's Course Offerings | website=Newsweek | date=22 August 2022|access-date=August 27, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tong |first1=Scott |last2=Saxena |first2=Kalyani |date=8 December 2022 |title=How one English professor 'Enchanted' students with a course about Taylor Swift songs |url=https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/12/08/taylor-swift-literary-course |access-date=8 December 2022 |website=WBUR}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMy6s44C0do | title=Prof. Scala @ BBC 4 |date=2022-08-24| access-date=August 27, 2023| website=YouTube }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Messier |first=Ashlyn |date=2022-08-23 |title=Educational Taylor Swift course offered to students at University of Texas this fall |website=Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/educational-taylor-swift-course-offered-students-university-texas-fall |access-date=2022-12-08 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Iftikhar |first=Asyia |date=31 August 2022 |title=Professor explains why Taylor Swift university course is no waste of money |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/08/31/taylor-swift-university-course/|access-date=August 27, 2023 |website=PinkNews}}</ref> Titled ''Literary Contexts and Contests: The Taylor Swift Songbook'', this course examined Swift's lyrics alongside those of canonical writers like William Shakespeare and Sylvia Plath, as well as Daphne du Maurier's novel ''Rebecca'' and Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 filmic adaptation of that novel.<ref name="ScalaEssay">{{Cite web |last=Scala |first=Elizabeth |date=2022-11-18 |title=Why I teach a course connecting Taylor Swift's songs to the works of Shakespeare, Hitchcock and Plath |url=http://theconversation.com/why-i-teach-a-course-connecting-taylor-swifts-songs-to-the-works-of-shakespeare-hitchcock-and-plath-194120 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=The Conversation |language=en}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite web |last=Saldana |first=Sean |date=2022-09-07 |title=This University of Texas professor knows Taylor Swift's songbook all too well |url=https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/ut-austin-course-taylor-swift-songwriting/ |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Texas Standard |language=en-US}}</ref> Although Swift had earlier been the focus of a New York University course which explored her musical entrepreneurship and celebrity,<ref>{{cite web |last=Aswad|first=Jem| url=https://variety.com/2022/music/news/taylor-swift-course-nyu-clive-davis-institute-1235170200/ | title=Taylor Swift Course Launched at New York University's Clive Davis Institute | date=2 February 2022|access-date=August 27, 2023 }}</ref> Scala's emphasis on the literary devices of Swift's songs was among the first sustained efforts to place their lyrics in relation to the Western canon of literature.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Menchaca|first=Megan|title=A Taylor Swift class is coming to the University of Texas. Are you ready for it? |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/news/education/2022/08/22/taylor-swift-class-university-texas-offered-fall-2022/65413810007/ |date=2022-09-22|access-date=2022-12-08 |website=Austin American-Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="ScalaEssay"/>

Scala's scholarship includes ''The Canterbury Tales Handbook'' published by W. W. Norton & Company and ''Desire in the Canterbury Tales'' from Ohio State University Press.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Canterbury Tales Handbook |url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393624441 |access-date=2022-12-08 |website=wwnorton.com |language=en}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scala, Elizabeth}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty Category:American women medievalists Category:American medievalists Category:Chaucer scholars Category:American academics of English literature