A Shakespeare and Milton scholar by training, my research focues on the interplay between the religious and the secular in early modern literature, and my recent work includes a number of philosophical issues. I especially love talking with students about books and ideas. My teaching interests run from the late medieval period through Shakespeare and Milton to the nineteenth-century novel, particularly those of Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope. I like to read widely in philosophy, theology, and history; for fun I am especially keen on the Jeeves and Wooster novels of P. G. Wodehouse. In addition to being professor of English, I hold the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Arts and Sciences at UMHB.
A native Iowan, I have lived in Missouri, Ohio, Barbados, and now Texas, which I love both for its semi-arid climate and the warmth of its people. My wife, Jennifer, and I are the parents of two college-age children. We like to be outdoors, walk, swim, garden, listen to live music, particularly jazz and blues; and watch live theater, old movies, and soccer. I also have an abiding love of trees and of the natural world in all its created splendor.
Early modern British literature, particularly Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton; satire; revenge tragedy; comedy; detective and spy fiction; screwball comedy and film noirDegrees Earned
BA, MAT, PhDResearch Interests
Shakespeare; Milton; Reformation literature and theology; Austen; literary criticism; film; anti-Realism.