معرفی
Professor Kate Narveson holds the title of Professor of English at Luther College, where she teaches courses on Shakespeare, medieval literature, and Renaissance studies. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in English from the University of Chicago, an M.Phil. in Renaissance Studies from The Warburg Institute (University of London), and a B.A. in History from Washington University in St. Louis.
Her research focuses on Elizabethan and early Stuart literature, medieval literature, and Milton. Key interests include John Donne, George Herbert, the history of reading/writing, devotional literature, and the impact of Reformation-era lay literacy. She recently published Bible Readers and Lay Writers in Early Modern England: Gender and Self-definition in an Emergent Writing Culture (2012), exploring how laypeople’s engagement with Scripture spurred a transformative writing culture.
Current research projects include analyzing a 900-page manuscript by Elizabethan gentlewoman Grace Lady Mildmay, transcribed with student assistants, and investigating intersections of religious discourse, identity, emotion, and physiology in 17th-century England.
Teaching emphasizes experiential learning: ENG 185: What Tolkien Read explores medieval influences on his work, while ENG 362: Renaissance Literature examines Sidney, Spenser, Donne, and Shakespeare. She also co-leads HON 220: From Ancient to Modern, tracing intellectual transitions from antiquity to early modernity.
Outside academia, Narveson is a classical violinist active in folk dance communities, designs hand-knitted sweaters, and co-manages a Minnesota lake resort. Her marriage to a solar electric specialist enriches her department’s energy discussions.
