Research Interests
Drama (esp. English drama to 1642)
Ecocriticism and environmental humanities (esp. critical plant studies)
Global Middle Ages (esp. drama and literature)
Medieval British and Irish literature (esp. Middle English)
Region and locality (esp. Cheshire and Chester)
Education
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2001
M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1996
B.A., Trinity University, 1991
Courses Taught
(links go to most recent syllabi)
Undergraduate
ENGL 109, Introduction to Fiction-ACP (Summer 2013)
ENGL 119, The Literature of Fantasy (Spring 2014)
ENGL 121, Introduction to Comics (Spring 2020)
ENGL 202, Medieval Literature and Culture (Fall 2023)
ENGL 209, Early British Literature and Culture (Fall 2022)
ENGL 350, Writing about Literature, Text, and Culture (Spring 2015)
ENGL 396, English Honors Seminar (Spring 2019)
ENGL 411, Chaucer (Fall 2020)
ENGL 412, Topics in Medieval British and Irish Literature (Spring 2024)
Graduate
ENGL 514, Seminar in Medieval Literature (Spring 2023)
ENGL 581, Seminar in Theory (Spring 2011)
ENGL 593, Professional Seminar in College Teaching (Spring 2017)
MDVL 500, Seminar in Medieval Studies (Spring 2016)
Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Head, English
Associate Professor, English
Associate Professor, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
Highlighted Publications
Barrett, R. W. (2009). Against All England: Regional Identity and Cheshire Writing, 1195-1656. (ReFormations: Medieval and Early Modern). University of Notre Dame Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/6001
Barrett, R. W., & Oyler, E. (2022). Medieval Drama, East and West. In G. Heng (Ed.), Teaching the Global Middle Ages (pp. 382-395). (Options for Teaching; Vol. 54). Modern Language Association.
Barrett, R. W. (2016). Chester and Cheshire. In D. Wallace (Ed.), Europe: A Literary History, 1348-1418 (Vol. 1, pp. 240-55). Oxford University Press.
Barrett, R. W. (2013). Languages Low and High: Translation and the Creation of Community in the Chester Pentecost Play. In K. L. Fresco, & C. D. Wright (Eds.), Translating the Middle Ages (pp. 65-79). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315549965-12
Barrett, R. W. (2011). Leeks for Livery: Consuming Welsh Difference in the Chester Shepherds’ Play. In C. A. M. Clarke (Ed.), Mapping the Medieval City: Space, Place and Identity in Chester, c. 1200-1600 (pp. 184-200). (Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages). University of Wales Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qhj0c.18
Recent Publications
Barrett, R. W. (2023). Drama. In R. Newhauser (Ed.), The Chaucer Encyclopedia (Vol. 2, pp. 589-91). Wiley-Blackwell.
Barrett, R. W. (2023). Drama. In The Chaucer Encyclopedia (Vol. 2-4, pp. 589-591). Wiley.
Barrett, R. W., & Oyler, E. (2022). Medieval Drama, East and West. In G. Heng (Ed.), Teaching the Global Middle Ages (pp. 382-395). (Options for Teaching; Vol. 54). Modern Language Association.
Barrett, R. W. (2016). Chester and Cheshire. In D. Wallace (Ed.), Europe: A Literary History, 1348-1418 (Vol. 1, pp. 240-55). Oxford University Press.
Barrett, R. W. (2016). Languages Low and High: Translation and the Creation of Community in the Chester Pentecost Play. In Translating the Middle Ages (pp. 65-79). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315549965-12