Verena Theile, Assistant Professor

Web Portfolio: http://www.ndsu.edu/ndsu/theile/

Office: 322 F Minard Hall
Phone: (701) 231-7152
Email: verena.theile@ndsu.edu

I joined the NDSU English department as an Assistant Professor of Early Modern Literature and Cultural Studies in the fall of 2008. Having earned my Ph.D. in English at Washington State University in 2006, I first served as a Post-doc at WSU and then as a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Both my B.A. and M.A. in English were completed at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and I'm glad to be back in the neighborhood-even as I am worried slightly about the infamous Fargo winters and woodchippers.

My teaching interests include 16th-/17th-century British literature (with an emphasis on drama, Metaphysical poetry, and pamphlet/ephemeral literature) and historiography. I also very much enjoy teaching biblical literature and mythology, folklore traditions and the fairy tale, as well as European literature in translation and courses in cultural/literary theory and criticism.

My research is concerned with the cultural transmission of belief systems from continental Europe to early modern England. In particular, I focus on tracing the ways in which European conflicts over issues of faith and religion impact developing definitions of heresy and superstition in England and how this impact is evidenced in both contemporary trials/persecutions of witches and the public performance of witchcraft, alchemy, exorcisms, etc. at fairs, in churches, at court, and on the stages of the newly emerging commercial theaters of early modern London.

As one of the newest members of the NDSU faculty, I especially hope to be a valuable resource for aspiring English majors and graduate students seeking a career in the academy. My door is always open and my computer seldom turned off: Call, e-mail, or swing by! I look forward to meeting and speaking with you.

During the Fall 2008 semester, Dr. Theile will be teaching Writing in the Humanities & Social Sciences (subtitled "Death, Grief, and Decay") as well as a survey course in early British Literature, a.k.a. British Literature I.

In the Spring 2008 semester, Dr. Theile will be teaching a course in Shakespearean drama and a survey course in 16th-century British Literature, listed as Topics in British Literature and tentatively subtitled "Faith and Superstitions in Post-Reformation Europe."

Last Updated: August 28, 2008