Arthur Bahr

Email: alexandy@mit.edu
Extension: x3-3616
Office: 14N-424
Department: Literature

Arthur Bahr graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College with majors in English, French, and Medieval Studies. Following a Fulbright year studying medieval sagas in Iceland, he began doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied the literary culture of fourteenth-century London, examining how the structure of literary and legal compilations produced in the City comprised complex arguments about the proper nature of royal power and civic polity. After completing his PhD in 2006, he joined the English department of Haverford College as Visiting Assistant Professor; he is extremely excited now to be a member of MIT's Literature Section.

Professor Bahr's teaching interests include Chaucer, the works of the Pearl-poet, and medieval romance; medieval Icelandic sagas; Old English language and literature; and representations of medieval culture in later periods, from Spenser's Faerie Queene to medieval-influenced subcultures around today (the SCA, Tolkien-lovers, et al.). He enjoys teaching from a broad range of periods, however, including ancient Greek tragedy, early modern drama, and satiric writings of all kinds.

When not teaching or researching, Arthur enjoys taking on ambitious cooking projects, keeping tabs on Project Runway, lamenting the cancellation of Arrested Development, and serving as a National judge of the United States Figure Skating Association. (He promises he's not corrupt, though.) And he loves his cat, Alcina, more than most anything.