Dr. Richard Angelo Bergen

Richard Angelo Bergen comes from a family of five kids in which all of them studied very different subjects, but nevertheless remain the closest of friends. Richard became interested in literature in large part because he was trying to write songs for a hard rock band, for which he sang and played drums: thus, he became fascinated with the question of what makes poetry deep, eloquent, and electrifying. Dr. Bergen completed a PhD at the University of British Columbia on the role of architectural and topographical representation in allegorical narratives. Richard now teaches introduction to literature courses and has research and teaching interests in fantasy literature (especially C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien), journey and voyage narratives, and the raptures of Renaissance literature (with particular work on William Shakespeare, John Milton, and John Bunyan). When anyone, himself included, studies a piece of art, there is always the possible tragedy of never noticing: never connecting to the focused or meaningful potentiality of experience that the writer allows. Richard aims in every one of his classes at Corpus Christi College to enable moments when literature translates into wakefulness and enrichment. 

Discipline

English

Current Research Projects

Richard is currently working on finishing his dissertation and a book form of it, which is about the connection between allegorical stories and setting (A Theory of Allegorical Spatiality).

Numerous other works are in progress that relate to this connection (between allegory and place), including conference papers, and essays consigned for submissions to journals like Chaucer Review, Speculum, and Bunyan Studies.

He also has an essay on C. S. Lewis and historical philosophy, which is being published with Cambridge Scholars Press in 2020.

Education

PhD in English Language and Literature – The University of British Columbia

Date Conferred: December 2022

Dissertation Title: The Nature of Allegory: Spatial Tropes in Medieval and Early Modern Allegorical Narratives

Distinctions: honours on comprehensive exams, pass with no revisions on dissertation/oral defence

Trinity Western University, Langley, BC; 2007-2014                   

Degrees Conferred:

Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Humanities (MA), 2014

-With distinction as the top-ranking student in my cohort: Philosophy, History, and English Literature components

Bachelor of Arts, Honours Major in English (BA, Hons), Minor in History, 2012

Publications

 “‘A Warp of Horror’: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sub-creations of Evil.” Mythlore vol. 30 (Fall 2017), pp. 103-121.

“C. S. Lewis: Interpreting History as Interpreter.” The Inklings and Culture: A Harvest of Scholarship from the

Inklings Institute of Canada. Edited by Monika B. Hilder, Sara L. Pearson, and Laura N. Van Dyke,

Cambridge Scholars Press, 2020, pp. 262-74.

“Hawes, Stephen.” The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain. Edited by Robert Rouse and Siân Echard.

Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Mere Allegory or More Allegory?” The Journal of Inklings Studies.

Edinburgh University Press, vol. 9, no. 1 (Spring 2019), pp. 43-62.

The Nature of Allegory: Spatial Tropes in Medieval and Early Modern Allegorical Narratives. The University of

British Columbia, 2022. [Dissertation]

                                                            A link can be found at ubc.ca and through Google Scholar

Paradise Lost and the Descent of Urania: From Astrology to Allegory.” Culture and Cosmos vol. 18, no. 2

(Fall 2014 [2016 release]), pp. 105-124.

“Praying Hard: Milton, Metal Music, and Religious Representation.” Cutting Edge ISGP Journal: vol. 5, no. 1

(Winter 2018): 8-18.

“Reforming Allegory in The Pilgrim’s Progress.” Love, Knowledge and the University. Edited by John North.

North Waterloo Academic Press, 2015, pp. 107-23.

“Substance Abuse: The Symbolic Geography of Hell in The Great Divorce.” Mythlore vol. 36, no. 1

                (Spring 2024), 21-41.

The Recorder: Newsletter for the International John Bunyan Society. Vol. 26, 27, 28, 29. (Fall 2020-2023).

[as editor]

“Topic and Topography: Mind and World.” INK: Ideas Numbers and Knowledge: vol. 4, no. 1 (Fall 2017),

                  pp. 8-9.

“The Word and the World: Spatial Allegory and the ‘Nature’ of The Pilgrim’s Progress.”  Bunyan Studies vol. 26

(Fall 2022), pp. 79-100.

Published Book Reviews

Review of Paradise Lost and the Cosmological Revolution by Dennis Danielson. Culture and Cosmos 18.2 (Autumn 2014).

Review of Reading the Road, from Shakespeare’s Crossways to Bunyan’s Highways. Edited by Lisa Hopkins and Bill Angus. Bunyan Studies 25 (Fall 2021), pp. 131-34.

Review of The Similitude of a Dream. The Neal Morse Band, Radiant Records, 2016. Bunyan Studies 23 (Fall 2019), pp. 113-15.

Review of Spenser in the Moment, eds. Paul Hecht and J. B. Lethbridge. Sixteenth Century Journal. XLVII/2 (Summer 2017), pp. 559-61.

Review of With Wandering Steps: Generative Ambiguity in John Milton’s Poetics, eds. Louis Schwartz and Mary C. Fenton. Sixteenth Century Journal. XLIX/3 (Fall 2018), pp. 845-47.

Digital Humanities Project

“Into the Cloud of Unknowing.” Short Educational film. Scripted, produced, and edited by Richard Bergen and Naomi Hogg. Uploaded to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov7XY_d-sIk&t=123s (2011). With over 20,000 views.

Previous Appointments

 Part-time Professor, University of Ottawa                                                September 2023-Present

Richard has been working as professor for five sections of ENG 1100 (Workshop in Essay Writing and Research) at the University of Ottawa, and will continue to teach other courses and sections throughout the remainder of the Academic Year.

Teaching Assistant, TWU, UBC                                                                 2011-2013, 2016-2023

He has served as TA for 15 courses in total. These teaching assistant positions have primarily involved marking, lecturing, leading discussions, invigilating, and general classroom facilitation. I have also helped with curriculum and administration.

Professional Societies

Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE)
Canadian Society of Renaissance Studies (CSRS)
Inklings Institute of Canada (IIC)
International John Bunyan Society (IJBS)
Medieval Association of Place and Space (MAPS)
Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP)
Mythopoeic Society
Renaissance Society of America (RSA)
Spenser Society

Current Research Projects 

A book version of Richard’s dissertation on allegorical spatiality.
 
A study of concept albums and their approach to musical and lyrical characterization, based on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
 
A study on “houses of fame” and the representation of crises in mnemonics, looking at Geoffrey Chaucer’s original House of Fame and some of his notable imitators (Stephen Hawes, John Lydgate, and some anonymous authors).
 
A study of the relationship of ars memoratiua to Nonconformist writers, and John Bunyan’s works.
 
An essay on medieval and early modern Death topifications and figural landscapes concerning mortality.

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