Laura Kolb

Laura Elizabeth Kolb

Assc Professor

Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

Department: English

Areas of expertise:

Email Address: laura.kolb@baruch.cuny.edu

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Laura Kolb has taught at Baruch since 2014. A specialist in early modern literature, she offers courses including Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Survey of British Literature I, and Women in Literature. She also regularly teaches in Baruch's Great Works program. Her first book, Fictions of Credit in the Age of Shakespeare (2021), examines the social and rhetorical dimensions of early modern England’s credit-driven economy, as represented in stage plays and practical texts. Her current research focuses on trickery, gender, and social performance in comedy and conduct literature. Her have appeared in Renaissance DramaShakespeare Studies, SELThe Sidney Journal, and Forum For Modern Language Studies. 

Education

Ph.D., English, U. Chicago Chicago IL

Books

Kolb, L. (2021). Fictions of Credit in the Age of Shakespeare. Oxford University Press.

Kolb, L., & Oppitz-Trotman, G. (2020). Early Modern Debts, 1550-1700. Palgrave Macmillan.

Journal Articles

Kolb, L. (2022). "Feminine Performance in The Taming of the Shrew: Final Speech and Missing Soliloquy". Renaissance Drama,

Kolb, L. (2018). "Debt's Poetry in Timon of Athens". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500-1900,

Kolb, L. (2016). "Jewel, Purse, Trash: Reckoning and Reputation in Othello". Shakespeare Studies,

Kolb, L. (2012). "Stella’s Voice: Echo and Collaboration in Astrophil and Stella 57 and 58". The Sidney Journal,

Kolb, L. (2007). "Playing with Demons: Interrogating the Supernatural in Jacobean Drama". The Forum for Modern Language Studies,

Book Chapters

Kolb, L. (2023). "Wench, Witch, Wife, Widow: Classifying Characters in The Witch of Edmonton". In Arab, R., & Ellinghausen, L. (Eds.), Intersectionalities of Class in Early Modern English Drama

Kolb, L. (2020). "Debt Letters: Epistolary Economies in Early Modern England". In Kolb, L., & Oppitz-Trotman, G. (Eds.), Early Modern Debts, 1550-1700 New York. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kolb, L. (2016). "Jonson’s Old Age: The Force of Disgust". In Eschenbaum, N. K., & Correll, B. (Eds.), Disgust in Early Modern English Literature (pp. 164-182). New York. Routledge.

Other Scholarly Works

Kolb, L. (2021). "'To you I owe the most': tales of debt from Shakespeare’s England to the present day." Blog post. OUPblog.

Kolb, L. (2019). "The Very Modern Anger of Shakespeare's Women." Essay. Electric Literature.

Kolb, L. (2018). "The itemized life: John Kay’s notebook." Blog post. The Collation.

Reviews

Kolb, L. E. (1970,January 1). Review of Writing at the Origin of Capitalism: Literary Circulation and Social Change in Early Modern England by Julianne Werlin.. Genre.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). "The Makers of Manners: 150 Years of Henry V Criticism." Review of Shakespeare: The Critical Tradition: King Henry V, ed. Joseph Candido. The Times Literary Supplement.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). Review of The Matter of Virtue: Women's Ethical Action from Chaucer to Shakespeare by Holly Crocker. The Shakespeare Newsletter.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). Review of Love's Quarrels: Reading Charity in Early Modern England by Evan Gurney. Renaissance Quarterly.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). "Shame." Review of Shakespeare's Body Language: Shaming Gestures and Gender Politics on the Renaissance Stage by Miranda Fay Thomas. The Times Literary Supplement.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). "So Wise So Young: Reading Family Drama in Shakespeare." Review of Shakespeare's Domestic Tragedies by Emma Whipday and The Child in Shakespeare by Charlotte Scott. The Times Literary Supplement.

Kolb, L. (1970,January 1). "Pretty sprinkled judgement: The textual chemistry of Shakespeare’s sources." Review of A Brief Discourse of Rebellion and Rebels by George North: A Newly Uncovered Manuscript Source for Shakespeare's Plays by Dennis McCarthy and June Schlueter and Shakespeare's Originality by John Kerrigan. The Times Literary Supplement.

Kolb, L. E. (1970,January 1). Review of The Diva's Gift to the Shakespearean Stage: Agency, Theatricality and the Innamorata by Pamela Allen Brown. Modern Language Quarterly (MLQ).

Honor / AwardOrganization SponsorDate ReceivedDescription
Barbara Reich Gluck Teaching Excellence AwardBaruch English department2020
Rare Book School Directors' ScholarshipRare Book School2019
Folger Short-Term FellowshipThe Folger Shakespeare Library2018