FIG Faculty: Ben Saunders
Ben Saunders was born in Wales. He studied at the University of East Anglia and Cambridge University before moving to the USA to take his PhD at Duke University. He is currently a Professor of English at the University of Oregon where he teaches English Renaissance Studies and Comics Studies.
He is the author of two books — Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Interpretation (Harvard University Press, 2006) and Do The Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes (Continuum Press, 2011) — and co-editor of two anthologies— Rock Over The Edge: Transformations in Popular Music Culture (Duke University Press, 2002), with Roger Beebe and Denise Fulbrook, and Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic Worlds of Jack Kirby (IDW, 2015),with Charles Hatfield. He has also published various essays on a range of topics, from the plays of Shakespeare to the pop music of Little Richard, and has served as curator for several high-profile exhibitions of comic strip and comic book art. The most recent of these exhibitions, Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes, opened at MoPOP in Seattle in 2017 and is currently touring the USA.
Professor Saunders founded the first Undergraduate Minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies in the USA at the University of Oregon in 2012. He is particularly looking forward to teaching his “Introduction to Comics Studies” this term because he is also serving as Associate Curator for another comics-art show at the UO’s own Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: “The Art of the News: Comics Journalism.” “It’s really exciting to be teaching Comics Studies at a time when we have major exhibitions like this at our University Museum. It will be a fantastic additional resource for the course,” he says.
Get to Know More about Professor Saunders and his work in this recent interview about the Marvel Exhibition and the current Fantastic Four Anniversary by watching the video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUYsv2Evvso
email: ben@uoregon.edu
