My primary research and teaching areas are in Renaissance Drama, especially comedy; critical theory; and relations between the fields of literature and science. Other areas of research and teaching include early modern intellectual history, especially literary theory and early scientific thought; economic and industrial history; urban history; the history of the theater; print culture; and related areas in medieval literary, social, and intellectual life.

I am currently at work on several projects: The Corporate Commonwealth, a book-length study of the concept of the "corporation," including early modern philosophies of industry, technology, and economy and their relationship to notions of political community and political subjectivity; assorted essays on Richard Hakluyt as a translator and humanist and on 16th century humanism and economic thought; and an essay on recent discussions of "form" in literary criticism and its relevance for historians of science, as part of a forthcoming forum in the journal Isis.

At Rutgers, I am Director of the Program in Early Modern Studies and a member of the Executive Committee at the Center for Cultural Analysis. I am also a member of the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Colloquium, an English Department faculty-graduate student research group that sponsors talks and workshops.

I will be on leave for 2010-2011 at the National Humanities Center and will be back teaching at Rutgers in Fall 2011.