Humanities Book Club Kicks Off With Preeminent Shakespeare Scholar

Actors square off for combat during a scene in a Loyola production of Macbeth

This October, the Humanities Departments of Loyola’s College of Arts and Sciences will debut a new online book group for alumni with the most recent Norton Critical Edition of one of William Shakespeare’s spookiest masterpieces.

Macbeth, verbally referred to as “The Scottish Play” in theaters around the world due to a perceived curse on productions, is a tragic tale of prophecy, murder, and descent into power-hungry madness. The most recent 3rd Norton Critical Edition was published on paperback in March 2025 and edited by Loyola’s own Gerard Manley Hopkins Professor of English Emeritus Robert Miola.

Alumni can purchase the new Norton Critical Edition or refer back to their old Loyola—or even high school—editions of Macbeth for a refresher in advance of the inaugural event. Attendees are invited to log in for a brief Powerpoint presentation by Prof. Miola featuring video clips from performances of the play, followed by an open discussion moderated by Associate Dean for the Humanities, Matt Mulcahy, on Tuesday, October 14 from 7–8:30 p.m.

This will be the inaugural meeting of the Humanities Alumni Book Group, planned as a once-per-semester series of online discussions of a great book, important historical, philosophical, theological text or issue, or a significant work of art led by Loyola faculty scholars who have written about these topics.

Registration for this semester’s debut book club event is limited to 75 alumni on a first-come basis. Please RSVP for this virtual alumni book group event here.

For questions, reach out to Matt Mulcahy at mmulcahy@loyola.edu or Maureen Kelly in alumni relations at mdkelly@loyola.edu.