nicholas.babich@avemaria.edu
Nicholas Babich is an Assistant Professor of Communications and Literature. His research focuses on medieval England, with research interest in Old English rhetoric and poetics, monasticism, manuscript and material culture, and affect theory. His ongoing book project, Failure in Early Medieval England: Poetics and Prayer, examines the poetic and spiritual responses to failure in Old and early Middle English texts, drawing on theological authorities including Augustine, John Cassian, Boethius, Bede, and Alcuin. He has written on allegory theory and medieval marginalia, and has ongoing projects on medieval riddles, courtly love, and early fantasy literature, including the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Hugh Benson. He and his wife Edith enjoy cooking (and eating), singing medieval music, and nature walks.
B.A., English, Penn State University
M.A., English, University of Notre Dame
M.A., Classics, University of Notre Dame
Ph.D., English, University of Notre Dame
Nicholas Babich is an Assistant Professor of Communications and Literature. His research focuses on medieval England, with research interest in Old English rhetoric and poetics, monasticism, manuscript and material culture, and affect theory. His ongoing book project, Failure in Early Medieval England: Poetics and Prayer, examines the poetic and spiritual responses to failure in Old and early Middle English texts, drawing on theological authorities including Augustine, John Cassian, Boethius, Bede, and Alcuin. He has written on allegory theory and medieval marginalia, and has ongoing projects on medieval riddles, courtly love, and early fantasy literature, including the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert Hugh Benson. He and his wife Edith enjoy cooking (and eating), singing medieval music, and nature walks.
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Invited/under review – “Tolkien’s Early Poetry and ‘Celtic Art.’” Religion & Literature
(special issue). TBD
Forthcoming – “God in the Margins: Devotion Between and Around the Texts of Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91.” Anglia.
“’Think on the Bludy Serk:’ Allegory and Figura in Henryson’s Minor Poem.” Neophilologus 108.3. .
Select Public Humanities or Creative Publications:
“Draining the Bitter Cup.” The Harper Review 1, Winter 2023, 38-39.
“Navigating between Reactionary Traditionalism and Naïve Modernism:
Robert Hugh Benson’s Agnosticism.” Church Life Journal.
traditionalism-and-naive-modernism/.
Peer-Reviewed Articles:
Invited/under review – “Tolkien’s Early Poetry and ‘Celtic Art.’” Religion & Literature
(special issue). TBD
Forthcoming – “God in the Margins: Devotion Between and Around the Texts of Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS 91.” Anglia.
“’Think on the Bludy Serk:’ Allegory and Figura in Henryson’s Minor Poem.” Neophilologus 108.3. .
Select Public Humanities or Creative Publications:
“Draining the Bitter Cup.” The Harper Review 1, Winter 2023, 38-39.
“Navigating between Reactionary Traditionalism and Naïve Modernism:
Robert Hugh Benson’s Agnosticism.” Church Life Journal.
traditionalism-and-naive-modernism/.
