Dr. Bill Beverly

Biography

I stress the development of voice. Students must learn to speak clearly and write well, but their le ssons will be better learned and their triumphs more richly felt if they feel free to invest themselves in their writing, and if courses give them opportunities to address readers and gather response. Students who understand that they speak from a position within culture and through a nuanced language will speak precisely, confidently, and with intent. To read a beautifully composed text, be it Hamlet or an ad for chocolate cake, and to understand the act of close reading--its mechanics, its motivations, its inexhaustibility and inflexibility--provides a foundational and empowering experience to students in any major. Even though its mission is already overloaded and its institutional prestige relatively low, freshman English should aim for no less than this: to provide a sustained immersion in intellectual labor that lays the groundwork for four years of study.

Research Interest

Creative writing (fiction, poetry, nonfiction) U.S. literature Teaching composition Popular culture and cultural studies Crime literature Film Gender studies Children's literature