Robert Sirabian earned his Ph.D. and M.A. at Purdue University, and his B.A. at the University of Michigan. He teaches writing and literature courses, and his primary area of interest is nineteenth-century British literature (Romantic and Victorian periods). His dissertation focuses on play theory and the novels of Charles Dickens. Additional research areas include nineteenth-century Medievalism, sports and literature, and Armenian-American literature.

awards

2007 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar – Adaptation and Revision: The Example of Great Expectations. University of California, Santa Cruz. June 30--July 28

Charles Dickens:  Life, Work, and Criticism. Toronto:  York Press, 2002

"The Conception of Science in Wells's The Invisible Man." H. G. Wells: Bloom's Modern Critical Views.  Ed. Harold Bloom.  Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. 81-97. Reprint

"Anglo-Saxonism and Charles Kingsley's Hereward the Wake:  The Last of the English."  The Year's Work in Medievalism.  18 (2003): 77-90

"Gender, Cross-Dressing, and Sport in Lewis Nordan's 'The All-Girl Football Team.'"  Sexual Sports Rhetoric:  Historical and Media Contexts of Violence.  Linda Fuller. ed.  New York: Peter Lang, 2009

Select conference presentations

"The Dark Side of Play"–Seminar Participant (Presentation of Position Paper: "At Play and In Play: The World of Our Mutual Friend")North American Victorian Studies Association, Nov. 3-6, 2011, Vanderbilt University 

The Nineteenth-Century Seminar–Participant (Presentation of Position Paper: Play and Games in the Novels of Charles Dickens) The Dickens Universe; July 31-Aug 5, 2011; Univ of California-Santa Cruz 

"Never Letting Go: Adapting Great Expectations" 13th Annual Dickens Symposium; July 21-23, 2011; St Anselm College, NH

"'Play, Play, Play!'  Sport Culture and Identity in Dickens's Great Expectations." Modern Language Association; Philadelphia, Dec. 2009

Victorian Medievalism Workshop–Invited Participant                       
North American Victorian Studies Association; Cambridge, England; July 13-15, 2009

"Play as Spectacle: Amusements and Dickens's View of the City."   
North American Victorian Studies Association; University of Victoria, B.C., Oct. 10-13, 2007

"The Norman-Saxon Conflict Revisited:  Victorian Medievalism and Tennyson's Harold."  42^st International Congress on Medieval Studies; Western Michigan University, May 10-13, 2007

"Play Theory: Play and Games, Reality and Fantasy." Session Organizer. Session Title:  "What's in a Game:  Reality and Fantasy in Baseball Fiction." Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association; Boston, MA., April 4-7, 2007 

English Department Website