Linda Bradley Salamon

Professor Emerita of English · George Washington University

My formation began at Harvard in the silver age of New Criticism. My ‘period’ was the English Renaissance (now Early Modern), especially 16th-century prose; pan-European comparison was inevitable. To my graduate school faculty, ‘theory’ meant Northrop Frye…so I read on my own and discovered I was a New Historicist/cultural historian. (See monograph on Nicholas Hilliard.)

Close reading with contextualization from a wide optic has remained my practice. The general topic of my research has been texts by novi homines in England: ‘new men’ rising to careers just opening to the talents of minor/landless gentry, merchants, former clergy, university graduates of ‘the middling sort’ – even artisans. Its themes touch on classical education, art theory, military history, travel, and slavery.

My articles include two overlapping series on violent male bodies and the Ottoman threat. Pursuing related discoveries, I have also written on T. S. Eliot and Shakespeare on film. In my parallel 20-year career as a dean, I also published on liberal education and university management; one example appears here.

• Classical education
• Art theory
• Military history
• Travel
• Slavery