I came to the University of Virginia by way of England, where I grew up, and Australia, where I spent fourteen fabulous years, and have also lived for long periods of time in Germany and Denmark. I like to travel across disciplines as well as countries; I did graduate work in German, now teach in UVA’s English department, and have longstanding interests in philosophy and sociology. In recent years I’ve been thinking a lot about why literature and art matter and trying to build bridges between the interests of academic and non-academic audiences. I tackle such questions in the classroom and hope to make them resonate with students by connecting them to what they know and care about.