Robert W. Anderson
[email protected]

Robert is a M.A. student in English literature at the University of California-Riverside.  His two areas of focus are Critical Theory and Lesbian & Gay Studies, at least tentatively.  He's also drawn to 20th Century American drama, Victorian literature, and Renaissance literature.  He will be teaching First Year Composition in the Fall 1999 for the first time.

Experience:  Robert has designed his own webpage, which has a number of queer academic links.  He's primarily worked for libraries, in a variety of positions, from Acquisitions to Reference to Circulation.  He did, however, work for Planned Parenthood in his hometown for a year, which was an eye-opening experience for him.  Currently, he is Advisor to UCR's Queer Alliance.

Education:  Robert is currently attending the University of California-Riverside, where he is working on his M.A.  He got his B.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he had a double major in Political Science and English, with a minor in Mathematics.  He also did two years of part-time graduate work at UNL while working for the University Library full-time, but decided it was too difficult to try to do both at the same time.

From Robert:  "Like virtually every other English undergrad and graduate student, I love literature, but I'm also deeply involved in politics, particularly queer and feminist politics.  Queer issues and feminist issues sometimes intersect and sometimes are at odds with one another, and exploring this dynamic fascinates me.  Queer writers have been around as long as people have been writing, but discussing queer issues and themes in literature has largely been taboo up until recently."

Personal Info you REALLY didn't want to know:  Robert's a gay man who's been with his partner, Rob,  for the last nine years.  Right now, they own no pets, but both enjoy the company of cats greatly (Robert's parents own three cats, each of whom have a very distinct character: Emma, Pip, and Jenny Diver).  Largely, both of them enjoy reading and surfing the net, and occasionally coming up for air or to watch one of the Star Treks, Xena, or the X-Files.  Sometimes, our friends snag us and take us out clubbing.  Robert doesn't really like Southern California as much as he likes Northern California, but thinks Palm Springs has a certain charm to it the rest of the area lacks.  Riverside reminds him an awful lot of his hometown, Lincoln, Nebraska, minus the cold winters and adding palm trees.

Robert is always open to e-mail from complete strangers about just about anything.  Of particular interest are any comments about queer issues/politics, my webpage, or literature in general.