David Marno

David Marno is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the intersection of literature and religious practice in Renaissance culture, particularly examining prayer, meditation, and spiritual exercises in poetry. He serves on the boards of the Renaissance and Early Modern Studies Designated Emphasis (REMS), the journal Representations, and the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR). His teaching emphasizes early modern literature, religion, and theater. He holds office at 419 Wheeler Hall and is on leave during Spring 2025.

His first monograph, Death Be Not Proud: The Art of Holy Attention (2016), analyzes John Donne’s Holy Sonnets as exercises in attentiveness, linking them to broader themes of institutional history and the relationship between calling and bureaucracy. His work also explores apocalyptic figures in literature and political discourse, as well as the philosophy of history.