Jonathan Goossen, PhD

My teaching and research centre on the literature of the English Renaissance, especially the drama of Shakespeare and his fiery friend, Ben Jonson. An interest in these things has led quite naturally to a secondary one in the philosophy and literature of the ancient world. Most of my research to date has treated the relationship of Aristotle’s literary theory to Shakespeare’s and Jonson’s comedies – see, for example, my aptly titled book Shakespeare, Jonson, and Aristotle on Comedy (Routledge, 2019). Recently, I have begun a book on American novelist Janet Lewis’s use of tragedy in her three-novel series, “Cases of Circumstantial Evidence.” I am also a deacon in the Eastern Orthodox church. In these pursuits, I try, with the help of God, my wife, and children, to be good.