The British imagination fascinates me. I marvel over Beowulf, delight in Austen, relish Byron, adore the Pre-Raphaelites, admire Woolf, puzzle over Pinter, treasure Tolkien, revere Heaney, moon over Winterson, and laugh happily at Monty Python, Black Adder, Eddie Izzard, and the Vicar of Dibley. But Shakespeare and his contemporaries (Elizabeth I, Marlowe, Spenser, Ralegh, and Donne) are my main focus as I teach. Over the years, I have paid particular attention in my scholarship to the ways in which cultural practices (hospitality and travel, for instance) inform the works of these brilliant early modern writers. In recent years, I have taken time to return to my prairie roots in order to write about Francisco Vázquez de Coronado and Willa Cather. In my new book, Becoming Willa Cather: Creation and Career, forthcoming from the University of Nevada Press, I tell the story of a brilliant and ambitious author, embracing experimentation in life and art, intent on reimagining the American West.
