Professor / Associate Dean for Undergraduate Curricula
1973 B.A., Brandeis University (English)
1975 M.A., Johns Hopkins University (English)
1978 Ph.D., University of Florida (English)
Bio
I am interested in the development of fiction from the late seventeenth century into the middle of the nineteenth-century and my most recent book applies classic sociological theory to fiction. I have taught a lot of Jane Austen courses of late but have also taught a Dickens first year seminar and am developing another FYS course on comic film. And I spend at least half of my time in Steele building working on General Education matters.
Publications:
- Jane Austen and Modernization: Sociological Readings. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
- Jane Austen and Co.: Remaking the Past in Contemporary Culture. Edited. Suzanne Pucci and James Thompson. SUNY Albany Press, 2003.
- Models of Value: Eighteenth-Century Political Economy and the Novel, Duke University Press, 1996.
- Between Self and World: the Novels of Jane Austen, Pennsylvania State University Press, 988.
- Language in Wycherley’s Plays: Seventeenth-Century Language Theory and the Drama, University of Alabama Press, 1984.
Teaching Awards
2003 – Johnston Award for Excellence in Teaching
Awards
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation $230,000 grant for Dissertation seminars, 2005-2006 (with John McGowan)
Courses Taught:
- ENGL 331 – 18th Century Literature
- ENGL 332 – 18th Century Drama
- ENGL 333 – 18th Century Fiction
- ENGL 335 – Studies in Jane Austen Studies