Prof. Robin Bates

"I have taught English since 1980, for a year at Morehouse College in Atlanta and then, since 1981, at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. I grew up surrounded by books in Sewanee, Tennessee, where my French professor father read to my three brothers and me every night of our childhood. At Carleton College the poetry of D.H. Lawrence helped me get in touch with my love of life, including my sexuality. Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, about a young man venturing into the world, was the key work for me after I graduated and entered the job market, working for two years as a journalist. I am author of How Beowulf Can Save America: An Epic Hero's Guide to Defeating the Politics of Rage. I blog regularly at Better Living through Beowulf: How great literature can change your life."