Louis Bastien

Mr. Bastien is a committed generalist who teaches a wide variety of courses, from Introduction to Literature, Major British Writers I, and Medieval Literature to advanced courses in Modernist Literature and Mythopoetics. His research centers on the concept of myth as it pertains to cultural development -- using neuroscience, cognitive science, and evolutionary theory as well as literary texts. Believing that the mythopoetic faculty is displayed most prominently in texts written during moments of personal and cultural crisis, his interests focus on movements such as Romanticism and Modernism, and on authors ranging from Shakespeare, Blake, and Keats to Melville, Joyce, and Stevens.