Courses
Upcoming Courses
“Romance Literature: The Fantasy and the Fandom” – The fantasy novel developed as a response to the popular fiction that preceded it: the medieval and early modern romances which helped to define the contours of secular literature. This course will offer a selection of major romance works from the medieval era through the 20th century with careful consideration of the thematic, ideological, and aesthetic concerns that led to the major fiction genres of fantasy, horror, children’s literature, and science fiction. Readings will include Beowulf, Le Morte D’Arthur, The Faerie Queene, Don Quixote de la Mancha, Joseph Andrews, The Romance of the Forest, Alice in Wonderland, and will end with a selection of comic books from the Marvel universe and viewing and discussion of the film, Star Wars: A New Hope. In addition to a research paper, students will also produce a creative project and a special pop culture pertaining to the history of fan culture from the sixteenth century to the present.
The Early British N
ovel, “The Early Novel and the ‘Invention’ of Fiction” – In the twenty-first century, we take “fiction” for granted, but for the writers of the seventeenth through mid-nineteenth centuries, “fiction” was a form in flux. The novels produced during this era were highly experimental, reflecting not only the cultural moments during which they were produced, but also their authors’ developing theories about literature’s ideological purpose. In this upper-division course, students will explore the historiography of the English novel in conversation with the historical, political, and transnational European movements that breathed life into the novel as a genre and literary form. Readings will include Oroonoko, Moll Flanders, Frankenstein, Northanger Abbey, and Gulliver’s Travels.
Literature in the Americ
an Experience, “American Sci-fi: The Utopian Ideal” – A highly speculative and imaginative genre, science fiction has held a prominent place in the American imaginary, past and present. In this reading and writing course, students will analyze major science fiction works by Philip Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler, and others in order to explore how these work incorporate and reflect American subjectivities: cultural and political ideologies (populism, anarchism, democratic liberalism), dystopian and utopian motifs (The American Dream), and a narrative technique emphasizing technological escapism.
Current Courses
“Scandalous Shakespeare”
Love, sex, treason, betrayal, faith, collusion—these are common themes within the immortal plays of William Shakespeare. They were also common elements of the English court as it dealt with a near-constant barrage of scandals, assassination plots, intrigues, and betrayals. This introductory course brings out the richness of Shakespeare’s plays—their controversies, philosophical depths, and complex ideological quandaries—in conversation with contemporary English history and politics. Students will exercise critical thinking skills, practice rhetorical argumentation, and engage in historical recovery of early modern past through close reading of canonical plays.
“Gothic Ghosts”
The late 18th through mid-nineteenth centuries were a period of heightened sensibility, where a nostalgic longing to recover the ghosts of the medieval past produced new harbingers of terror. This GEC survey course will explore the thematic undercurrent of late romanticism, which helped to produce the gothic movement and horror literature of the twentieth century, concluding with the present moment. Major themes and motifs will include the relationship between literary realism and readerly habits; psychological erasure and the uncanny; cultural nostalgia and the motif of haunting; ghosts, demons, butchers, and goblins galore.
Complete Course History
Teaching Interests
Shakespeare and early modern drama; comparative approaches to the Renaissance; medieval and early modern romance; Golden Age and Baroque Spanish literature; the history of the novel; romanticism and the gothic
Individual Courses
The Ohio State University; Mansfield, OH
The Early British Novel, “The Early Novel and the ‘Invention’ of Fiction,” English Department (scheduled)
British Literature 1800 to Present, “Magic and the Supernatural for a Realist Age,” English Department (scheduled)
Special Topics in Literature, “Romance Literature: The Fantasy and the Fandom,” English Department (scheduled)
Literature in the American Experience, “American Sci-fi: The Utopian Ideal,” English Department (scheduled)
British Literature 1800 to Present, “Gothic Ghosts,” English Department
Introduction to Shakespeare, “Scandalous Shakespeare,” English Department
First Year Composition, “The Fallacious Argument,” English Department
The Ohio State University; Columbus, OH
Introduction to Drama, English Department
Introduction to Shakespeare, English Department (2 sections)
Special Topics in Literature, “#ChivalryIsNotDead,” English Department
English Enrichment Course, Young Scholars Program, Office of Diversity and Inclusion (3 sections)
Second Year Composition, Literature Focus, English Department
First Year Composition, Literature Focus, English Department
First Year Composition, English Department (2 sections)
Mosaic International Institute; Madrid, Spain
English for Beginners (3 sections)
Intermediate English (2 sections)