Dr. Jim Keller - Chair

I am very happy to be joining the EKU English and Theatre Department this summer. I enjoyed meeting members of the faculty and staff during my visit in Feb., and I am looking forward to getting better acquainted.

I am originally from Kewanee, IL where I lived until I was 19 at which time I joined my extended family in moving to Florida to escape Illinois winters. I lived in Florida (most of the time Tampa) from 1979 to1992. I received my Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in 1991. That same year, I accepted the position of Temporary Instructor at University of North Florida where I remained for one year until I received an Assistant Prof. position at Mississippi University for Women. I have been at MUW for fifteen years, teaching a cycle of classes, including Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, Early Modern Drama, Early Modern Poetry, Twentieth Century Drama, African American Literature, Surveys of British and American Literature, and Composition.

I was appointed Director of the Honors College in 1997 and was given the task of revising the program’s curriculum. I continued in that position for nine years until I became Chair of the newly restructured Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy, a position I have held for the past two years.

My research interests are varied. I have published four monographs: Princes, Soldiers, and Rogues: The Politic Malcontent of Renaissance Drama (1992); Anne Rice and Sexual Politics: The Early Novels (2000); Queer [Un}Friendly Film and Television (2002); and Food, Film, and Culture (2006). My current project is a monograph, entitled V for Vendetta: Allegory and Intertext, which is forthcoming in 2008. I have published three essay collections in collaboration with Dr. Leslie Stratyner (who is also at MUW): Almost Shakespeare (2004); The New Queer Aesthetic on Television (2005), and Fantasy Fiction into Film (Forthcoming 2007). Finally, I have published over forty articles and chapters on a variety of subjects, including Early Modern Literature, Cultural Studies, African American Literature, Film, and Gender Studies.

I am looking forward to working with the EKU faculty and staff, and I want to thank you for the opportunity.