Specialization: 18th Century British Literature, Gothic, Religion and Literature

Education: 
Ph. D., English, University of Virginia (1971)
M.A., English, University of Virginia (1967)
B.A., summa cum laude, English, Boston College (1966)

Research Interests: 
Secularization in modern literature, particularly in 18th-century novel. Both my M.A. thesis on Burke's defense of tradition and my PhD thesis on the transformation (or secularization) of the older concept of prudence concern this topic, as do, quite explicitly, the articles and presentations developed out of NEH seminars.

Publications:
Book
The Supernatural in Gothic Fiction: Horror, Belief, and Literary Change. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1992.

Articles
“The Ironical Mysteries of Time: Ward Moore's Classic Bring the Jubilee." Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction. Ed. Edgar L. Chapman and Carl B. Yoke. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2003. 39-48.

“Subverting the Gothic.” Review 23 (2001): 187-198. 

“Carmilla' and the Gothic Legacy: Victorian Transformations of Supernatural Horro.” The Blood is the Life: Vampires in Literature. Ed. Leonard Heldreth and Mary Pharr. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999. 19-26. 

“On Horror and Religion.”Gothic Horror: A Reader's Guide from Poet to King and Beyond. Ed. Clive Bloom. New York: St. Martin’s, 1999. 287-301.

“Charting the Supernature.” Review 19 (1997): 113-124.

“The Corpse in the Dung Cart: The Night Side of Natureand the Victorian Supernatural Tale.”Functions of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Thirteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. Ed. Joseph Sanders. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1995. 47-54.

Awards:
Phi Beta Kappa (Beta of Virginia, 1970) 
NEH Summer Seminar (1976) 
NEH year-long seminar/research grant
James Madison Educational Leave Grant
JMU Summer Grant