Robert Kachur Ph.D.

Professor of English

English

I love teaching, and for over two decades I've had the amazing opportunity to teach a wide variety of courses related to my research interests: horror fiction (British and American, with particular interest in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe), British Romantic poetry (with particular interest in Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake), the early British novel, Apocalyptic texts, and Postmodern fiction, film and pop culture. My newest venture has been creating a course in Humor Writing; the student writing produced during the first run of that course in 2019 was hilarious. I'm currently looking into the possibility of creating an interdisciplinary program for students interested in writing, performing and filming comedy.

Education

1996: Ph.D. in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, University of Wisconsin Madison
1990: M.A. in English Literature, University of Wisconsin Madison
1983: B.A. in English, University of Virginia

Research Interests

Representations of sexuality in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe
The Gothic Mode in contemporary popular culture
Trauma studies
The psychological and sociological effects of humor on viewers, readers and writers

Recent Courses

FYS 1159: Horror in Fiction and Film
ENG 2104: Humor Writing
IDS 2226: The Postmodern Generation

Selected Publications

Gothic Heteronormativity and the Limits of Queer Capacity in Poe's 'William Wilson.' Co-authored with student Cam Ostrander. Currently under consideration at Gothic Studies.
Listening to the Log: Gothic Awkwardness and Twin Peaks. With Paul Muhlhauser. The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 50, no. 5, October 2017, pp.929-948.
A Consuming Tradition: Candy and Socio-Religious Identity Formation in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Critical Approaches to Food in Children's Literature, edited by Kara K. Keeling and Scott T. Pollard, Routledge, 2009, pp. 221-234.
Buried in the Bedroom: Bearing Witness to Incest in Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 41, no. 1, March 2008, pp. 43-59.
Envisioning Equality, Asserting Authority: Women's Devotional Writings on the Apocalypse. 1845-1900. Women's Theology in Nineteenth-Century Britain, edited by Julie Melnyk, Garland, 1998, pp.3-36.

Clubs and community involvement

Faculty Advisor for the Poe Club

Awards and Honors

Ira G. Zepp Outstanding Teaching Award
Faculty Scholarly Publications Award
Ira G. Zepp Teaching Enhancement Grant Award

"It was great having you as a professor! I've always loved reading, but the courses I took with you opened my eyes to so much more! I still have my paper on Robert Frost with your commentary & read over it from time to time. Memories crafted & immortalized in class due to people like you & your colleagues are why I love McDaniel so very dearly."

Christopher J. Rondo, '20

Robert Kachur Ph.D. Professor of English