I am a literary scholar specializing in the Middle Ages. I teach many different medieval texts and traditions, including Chaucer, Dante, Beowulf, Arthurian romances, drama, the love lyric, and the Ovidian tradition. I also teach Shakespeare, Renaissance poetry, the Gothic revival, autobiography and memoir, and the history of the English language.
I am especially interested in how reading can change the way people understand themselves. This was the focus of my first book, Looking Inward: Devotional Reading and the Private Self in Late Medieval England. More recently, I explored the subject in an essay on 20th-century fantasy writing. I am currently writing a book about Chaucer.
Medieval European Literature
The English Renaissance
Lyric Poetry
Gender and Sexuality
The History of the English Language.
Spring 2024
Lyric Poetry: Words Matter — ENGL 202
Ovid in the Middle Ages — ENGL 209
Fall 2024
Arthurian Fictions — ENGL 140
What is Literature: Introduction to the Advanced Study of Literature — ENGL 299
