EDUCATION:

1983-1988: OXFORD UNIVERSITY, ENGLAND; D.Phil., English; major field of concentration: Restoration and 18th-century British literature. Dissertation title: “English Verse Satire, 1641-1688.” Thesis supervisor: Emrys Jones, Goldsmiths’ Professor of English Literature, New College, Oxford.

1977-1980 (summers): MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE, VERMONT; M.A., English; Bread Loaf School of English

1976-1978: UNIVERSITY OF FRIBOURG, SWITZERLAND; non-degree study in literature and French

1972-1976: DAVIDSON COLLEGE, NORTH CAROLINA; B.A., English

EXPERIENCE:

May 2021-current: Professor Emeritus, Denison University

Sept. 2004-April 2021: Professor of English, Restoration and 18th Century; DENISON UNIVERSITY, Ohio

Sept. 1995-August 2004: Associate Professor of English; DENISON UNIVERSITY, Ohio

Sept. 1991-August 1995: Assistant Professor of English; DENISON UNIVERSITY, Ohio

1990-1991: Assistant Professor of English, Restoration and 18th Century; VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY, Georgia

1988-1990: Instructor of English, U OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE

1984-1987: Post-Graduate Tutor of English Literature, ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD

1984-1986 (summers and off-terms): OXFORD LANGUAGE SCHOOLS; TEFL Instructor, Center Manager, and Director of Studies

1981-1983: Lecturer in English, U OF MARYLAND EUROPEAN DIVISION, the former West Germany

PUBLICATIONS:

Academic Books:

Speculative Satire in Contemporary Literature and Film: Rant Against the Regime.  London: Routledge, 2021 (https://www.routledge.com/Speculative-Satire-in-Contemporary-Literature-and-Film-Rant-Against-the/Combe/p/book/9780367626815).

Masculinity and Monstrosity in Contemporary Hollywood Films (co-authored with Brenda M. Boyle).  New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.  (https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137360809)

A Martyr for Sin: Rochester's Critique of Polity, Sexuality, and Society. Newark: University of Delaware Press. London: Associated University Presses, 1998. (https://udpress.udel.edu/book-title/a-martyr-for-sin-rochesters-critique-of-polity-sexuality-and-society/)

Theorizing Satire: Essays in Literary Criticism (co-edited collection of essays and co-authored introduction with Brian Connery).  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.  (http://us.macmillan.com/theorizingsatire/BrianConnery)

Academic Articles:

“Diatribe / Tirade / Rant.” Handbuch Satire, eds. Elisabeth Flucher, Vincenz Pieper, Daniel Wendt. Metzler Verlag Publishing (Germany) and Springer Nature; forthcoming.

“Satire and Modern Power.” Teaching Modern British and American Satire, ed. E. R. Davis and N. D. Nace. New York: MLA, 2019. 162-170.

“Stephen Colbert: Great Satirist, or Greatest Satirist Ever?” International Communication Gazette 77.3 (April 2015): 297-311.

“Homeland Insecurity: Macho Globalization and Alien Blowback in Monsters.”  The Journal of Popular Culture 48.5 (October 2015): 1010-1029.

“Bourgeois Rakes in Wedding Crashers: Feudal to Neo-Liberal Articulations in Modern Comedic Discourse.”  The Journal of Popular Culture 46.2 (April 2013): 338-358.

“Making Monkeys of Important Men: Performance Satire and Rochester’s Alexander Bendo’s Brochure.”  Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 12.2 (Spring 2012): 54-76. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/470251)

“Spielberg’s Tale of Two Americas: Postmodern Monsters in War of the Worlds.”  The Journal of Popular Culture 44.5 (October 2011): 934-953.

“Shaftesbury and Monmouth as Lords of Misrule: Dryden and Menippean Transformations.” The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 45.3 (Fall 2004): 231-248.

“Naturalizing Myths of Aging: A Cautionary Tale” (co-written with Dr. Kenneth Schmader, M.D., Duke University Medical Center, Geriatrics Division). Power and Poverty: Old Age in the Pre-Industrial Past, eds. S. Ottaway, L. Botelho, K. Kittredge. Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press, 2002. 187-205.

“Rakes, Wives, and Merchants: Shifts from the Satirical to the Sentimental.” A Companion to Restoration Drama, ed. by Susan J. Owen. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001. 291-308.

“Shadwell as Lord of Misrule: Dryden, Varronian Satire, and Carnival.” Eighteenth-Century Life 24.3 (Fall 2000): 1-18.

“Naturalizing Myths of Aging: Reading Popular Culture” (co-written with Dr. Kenneth Schmader, M.D., Duke University Medical Center, Geriatrics Division). Journal of Aging and Identity 4.2 (1999): 79-109.

“Cruising the Quad: Liberal Arts as the Mall.” Pretexts: Studies in Writing and Culture 7.1 (July 1998): 97-111.

“Considering Shadwell”; introductory essay in collection entitled Thomas Shadwell Reconsider’d: Essays in Criticism, ed. J. B. Slagle; special edition of Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700 20.2 (Fall 1996): 88-100.

“Shakespeare Teaching Geriatrics: Case Studies in Aged Heterogeneity” (co-written with Dr. Kenneth Schmader, M.D., Duke University Medical Center, Geriatrics Division). Journal of Aging and Identity 1.2 (1996): 99-116.  Also anthologized in Aging and Identity: A Humanities Perspective, eds. S. M. Deats and L. T. Lenker.  Westport, Ct. and London: Praeger, 1999.

“A New Voice for Political Dissent: The Transition from Complaint to Satire.” Theorizing Satire: Essays in Literary Criticism, ed. by B. Connery and K. Combe. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. 73-94.

“‘But loads of Sh-- almost choked the way’: Shadwell, Dryden, Rochester, and the Summer of 1676.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 37.2 (Summer 1995): 127-64.

“Clandestine Protest against William III in Dryden's Translations of Juvenal and Persius.” Modern Philology 87 (1989): 36-50.

“Dryden's Allusion to Horace in Mac Flecknoe.” Notes and Queries 232 (Sept. 1987): 330-31.

Special Issue of Journal:

Political Parody and Satire as Subversive Speech in the Global Digital Sphere (co-edited and co-introduced with Dr. Sangeet Kumar, Communication Department, Denison University). International Communication Gazette 77.3 (April 2015).

Fiction:

SUBSTACK: 2084 Quartet (begun June 2023)

https://kirkcombe.substack.com

“Ironrite” (short story).  Defuncted on Medium (25 March 2023): https://medium.com/defuncted/ironrite-by-kirk-combe-c39a09d00419

(originally published in Millwork, Issue 3, August 2018).

“Our Soldier of Fortune” (short story).  The Write Launch, Issue 27 (July 2019): https://thewritelaunch.com/2019/06/our-soldier-of-fortune/

2084 (novel).  Mahomet, IL: Mayhaven Publishing, 2009.

Imperfect Enjoyment: A Postmodern Epic.  (named a finalist in the 4th Annual Gival Press Novel Award, 2008)

“One Evening” (short story).  Honorable Mention for Glimmer Train Short Story Award contest, May/June 2017

“Ironrite” (short story). Placed in Top-25 for Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award contest, July 2009

“Autistic.”  The Miscellany: A Davidson Review 11.1 (Winter 1976): 66-71.  (short story)

“Golgotha.”  The Miscellany: A Davidson Review 10.2 (Spring 1975): 29-36.  (short story)

Editions:

Edited and introduced City Politiques by John Crowne. The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama, editor J.D. Canfield. Peterborough, Canada: Broadview Press, 2001. (http://www.broadviewpress.com/product.php?productid=259)

On-line:

Substack: Rant Against the Regime (begun February 2023)

https://rantagainstregime.substack.com

Confessions of a Vampire, election commentary in US Election Analysis 2020: Media, Voters and the Campaign (https://www.electionanalysis.ws/us/). This item was solicited by the Centre for Comparative Politics and Media Research at Bournemouth University, England (posted November 2020).

The Wørd: Stupid Power, election commentary in US Election Analysis 2016: Media, Voters and the Campaign (http://www.electionanalysis2016.us/). This item was solicited by the Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community at Bournemouth University, England (posted November 2016).

“Satire Invades Opera,” review of contemporary opera titled Nova (performed at the Cleveland Public Theatre, February 2014) invited by Real Time Opera (Oberlin, Ohio). See online Opera Head (Issue 1, Summer 2015) at http://www.realtimeopera.org/operaHead.

Reviews:

(Note: Since 1987, I have published over seventy reviews of scholarly books.  Listed below are the most recent.)

Rev. of Ways of the World: Theater and Cosmopolitanism in the Restoration and Beyond, by Laura Rosenthal; Emotions: History, Culture, Society 6:1 (June 2022): 196-197.

Rev. of Literature and Party Politics at the Accession of Queen Anne, by Joseph Hone; Notes and Queries 66:4 (Dec. 2019): 601-602.

Rev. of Thomas Killigrew and the Seventeenth-Century English Stage: New Perspectives, by Philip Major (ed.); Notes and Queries 65: 3 (Sept. 2018): 449–451.

Rev. of Coyness and Crime in Restoration Comedy: Women’s Desire, Deception, and Agency, by Peggy Thompson and A Race of Female Patriots: Women and Public Spirit on the British Stage, 1688-1745, by Brett Wilson; The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 56:4 (Winter 2015): 507-510.

Rev. of The Practice of Satire in England, 1658-1770, by Ashley Marshall; Notes and Queries 62:2 (Summer 2015): 338-339.

Rev. of Passion for Living: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, by R. E. Pritchard; 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era 20 (2013): 216-219.

Rev. of Theory After Theory: An Intellectual History of Literary Theory from 1950 to the Early 21st Century, by Nicholas Birns; Style 47:2 (Summer 2013): 263-265.

Rev. of Outward Appearances: The Female Exterior in Restoration London, by Will Pritchard; The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 52:2 (Summer 2011): 211-214.

Rev. of The Pen and the People: English Letter Writers 1660-1800, by Susan Whyman; Notes and Queries 58:4 (Dec. 2011): 618-619.

Rev. of Censorship and Conflict in Seventeenth-Century England: The Subtle Art of Division, by Randy Robertson and Provincial Readers in Eighteenth-Century England, by Jan Fergus; Notes and Queries 57:4 (Dec. 2010): 597-599.

Rev. of Restoration Drama and ‘The Circle of Commerce’: Tragicomedy, Politics, and Trade in the Seventeenth Century, by Richard Kroll; Notes and Queries 256 (2009): 659-660.

Rev. of Sustaining Literature: Essays on Literature, History, and Culture, 1500-1800, ed. by Greg Clingham; Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700 32:2 (Fall 2008): 66-68.

Rev. of A Companion to Satire: Ancient and Modern, ed. by Ruben Quintero; Notes and Queries 253 (Sept. 2008): 364-365.

Rev. of The Augustan Art of Poetry: Augustan Translation of the Classics, by Robin Sowerby; Notes and Queries 252 (Dec. 2007): 520-521.

Rev. of The Making of Restoration Poetry, by Paul Hammond; Notes and Queries 252 (Sept. 2007): 346-347.

Rev. of Menippean Satire Reconsidered: From Antiquity to the Eighteenth Century, by Howard Weinbrot; 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era 14 (2007): 368-371.

Film:

“Ironrite,” directed by Clayton Combe (short film based on my short story); executive producer. Official Selection: 1) Short To The Point Film Festival (October 2019); 2) Culver City Film Festival (December 2019); 3) Miami Independent Film Festival (December 2019); 4) Independent Shorts Awards Film Festival (December 2019; won: Best Acting Duo, Best Young Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design); 5) others forthcoming

"The Feed,” directed by Clayton Combe (short film; see: facebook.com/thefeedshort); I am the co-screenwriter and executive producer. Official Selection: 1) ZERO Film Festival - New York (November 2015); 2) NewFilmmakers New York (February 2016); 3) Geneva Film Festival (Chicago, March 2016); 4) Queens World Film Festival (New York, March 2016); 5) SENE Film, Music & Arts Festival (Providence, Rhode Island, April 2016); 6) Workers Unite! Film Festival (New York, May 2016); 7) Hoboken International Film Festival (Hoboken, New Jersey, June 2016)

PRESENTATIONS:

March 2020 (campus presention): “Rant Against the Machine: Speculative Satire versus the Neoliberal Hegemon”;  The Tuesday Faculty Lunch Series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NprZ7zi1zWw).

May 2015 (paper presenter and roundtable discussant): THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION (65th Annual Conference, “Communication Across the Life Span,” San Juan, Puerto Rico); paper delivered: “The Postmodern Characteristics of Modern Western Satire”; panel: “Political Parody and Satire as Subversive Speech in the Global Digital Sphere.”

November 2010 (invited keynote speaker): LIBERTINISM AND BAROQUE PERFORMATIVITY IN THE 17TH CENTURY (University of Brussels, Belgium); symposium paper delivered: “Doctor Bendo’s Bill as Body Physical and Body Politic”; graduate seminar conducted: “Sex and Politics in Rochester’s Major Satires.”

September 2007: 5TH GLOBAL CONFERENCE, MONSTERS AND THE MONSTROUS: MYTHS AND METAPHORS OF ENDURING EVIL (Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom); paper delivered: “Spielberg’s Tale of Two Americas: Postmodern Monsters in War of the Worlds”; panel chaired: “Monsters Novelistic and Told.”

June 2006: THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LEARNING (Montego Bay, Jamaica); panel chaired: “Who Is Being Served?”; paper delivered: “Who Is Being Served: Service-Learning at a Small, Private, Liberal Arts College.”

September 1999: OLD AGE IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY (Ithaca College Gerontology Institute); paper delivered: “Naturalizing Myths of Aging.”

March 1999: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Two Myths of Aging in Early Modern British Comedy.”

October 1997: OHIO CAMPUS COMPACT; panel chaired: “Freire in the Liberal Arts Environment: Service-Learning, Literacy Tutoring, and Liberatory Pedagogy”; paper delivered: “Whose Service?  Whose Learning?”

April 1997: PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED; panel chaired: “Freire in the Liberal Arts Environment: Service Learning and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed”; paper delivered: “Rethinking Community, Revising Text: Politicizing First-Year College Composition.”

February 1996: SOUTH CENTRAL SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Making Men into Monkeys: Rochester's Betrayal of His Libertine Reader.”

October 1995: MIDWESTERN AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; panel chaired: “Political Affairs in Restoration Literary Constructions”; paper delivered: “Rochester's Doctor Bendo's Bill as Satire Against the Court.”

April 1995: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Shadwell and Shaftesbury as Lords of Misrule: Dryden, Varronian Satire, Carnival, and the Inns of Court.”

October 1994: MIDWESTERN AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; panel chaired: “Teaching Satire: A Roundtable Discussion.”

October 1993: MIDWESTERN AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; panel chaired: “Puzzles of Persona(e) and Author-ity”; paper delivered: “Woman to Woman, Man to Man: Literary Transvestism in Rochester and Cleland.”

April 1993: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “‘But loads of Sh--- almost choked the way’: Shadwell, Dryden, Rochester, and the Paper Scuffles of the 1670s.”

March 1992: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Putting the ‘Mac’ into Mac Flecknoe: Charles Shadwell’s Translation of the London Stage to Dublin.”

Dec. 1991: MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION; panel chaired: “Theorizing Satire”; paper delivered on separate panel: “Rochester’s Iconoclastic Obscenity: An Unsound Mind in an Unsound Body.”

Oct. 1991: NORTHEAST AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Oldham as Updater: Fierce Independence While Paying Homage to the Past.”

Nov. 1990: NORTHEAST AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; paper delivered: “Literary Strategies for Loyalist Propaganda after the English Civil War: the Politicization of Formal Verse Satire.”

Feb. 1990: WESTERN SOCIETY FOR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY STUDIES; chair of session and paper delivered: “Absalom and Achitophel as Dryden's Political Paradise Regained.”

ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES, HONORS, AND AWARDS:

Viola Kleindienst Endowed Professorship, 2017-2022

Doane Faculty Fellowship (research leave), Denison University, Fall 2017.

Editorial Board of The Journal of Popular Culture, 2013-present.

Submissions Reader for scholarly journals such as: The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation; Mosaic; Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660-1700; and Early Modern Literary Studies.

External judge for McCoy Teaching Award, Marietta College, Marietta, OH, 2013-2017.

Charles A. Brickman Teaching Excellence Award, Denison University, 2011.

Denison University Research Foundation grant for creative project (screenwriting and film), 2011.

Robert C. Good Faculty Fellowship (research leave), Denison University, Fall 1998, Spring 2004, Spring 2008.

Joyce Fellowship Grant for Junior Faculty Research Leave, Denison University, Spring 1994.

Summer Research Grants, Denison University, 1992-1998, 2000.

Nominated for Hodges Teaching Award, U of Tennessee, 1990.

Oxford University Postgraduate Bursary for Overseas Students, 1983-1986.

Scholarship awards for M.A. study, 1978-1980.