Philip F. O'Mara
Associate Professor, Department of English Bridgewater College Bridgewater VA 22812 pomara@bridgewater.edu Phone: 540-828-5341 Bridgewater College Home Page Home: 41 Southwest View Drive Lexington VA 24450 540-464-4466	Education: B.A. 1960, St. John's University, New York M.A. 1961, and Ph.D. 1970, Notre Dame University Postdoctoral research on various subjects and at various universities, most recently on the Bible as Literature at Yale, summer 1996 (further information is given below).

In recent years I have taught  the following classes: Western Thought in Literature (ENG 205 and ENG 206), Survey of English Literature ( ENG 405), Black Literature, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and others.

I have also taught in the personal Development Portfolio program for a number of years, and I am continuing to do this.

At present my major project, apart from classroom teaching, is the organization of the Virginia Humanities Conference annual meeting for 2004, to take place at Bridgewater next March 18 and 19, and to be devoted to the study of Modernism.  For further information about this meeting, consult the 

Virginia Humanities Conference web site.

In the fall I will teach Medieval Literature and Shakespeare.

In the Interterm I will teach History of Film.

In the Spring term I will teach Effective Writing, Renaissance Literature, and Modern poetry.

At this site you can find the following information for your course:

• Syllabus, including course objectives and required texts
• Sequence of topics
• Assignments, oral and written
• Recommended reading, including reserve material
• Schedule of tests, due dates for papers, and the final examination
• My office hours, announcements, and information about my background, educational outlook and research interests
• For fall 2000 my office hours are MWF 12:30-4:00 p.m., and by appointment.

Courses that I have taught in recent years: Critical Thinking, Survey of English Literature I, Survey of American Literature I and II, English Fiction, Modern Literature, Chaucer, Western Civilization 102, History of Film, Elementary Greek

Areas of postdoctoral study: Independent study: African literature, University of Michigan summers 1970-74

Seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities:

Problems in the Interpretation of Poetry, Boston University 1974. Helen Vendler (now of Harvard)

The Anti-hero in Modern Literature, Princeton University, summer 1984. Director: Victor Brombert.

Modern Interpretations of Greek Myth, Harvard University 1987. Gregory Nagy

Nineteenth Century Religious Thought, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California 1992. Claude Welch

The Bible as Literature, Yale University, 1996. Leslie Brisman

 

Although I have many interests, literature and writing have always been my commitments as a teacher and scholar. Since I was a freshman in high school I have concentrated on modern literature, especially modern American poetry. In graduate school I also did a substantial amount of work in medieval literature, chiefly the high and later Middle Ages from Dante to Chaucer. On these areas I have taught and done research, presenting papers at conferences and publishing a book, several articles, and some book reviews. As a creative writer I have composed the scenario and libretto for an opera and I have published several poems; currently I am at work on several linked short stories, two of which are finished.