Department: English

John David Tatter

Professor of English

Office:

Berte Humanities Building 311

Contact Information:

Box 549028
Birmingham-Southern College
900 Arkadelphia Rd
Birmingham, AL 35254
Office Phone: (205) 226-7835
Office Fax: 226-3089
E-mail: jtatter@bsc.edu

Personal Web Page

Brief Career Background:

John Tatter taught at Ohio University, Houghton College, and Pikeville College before coming to Birmingham-Southern in 1985. His specialty is Restoration Drama, and he has a keen interest in gender studies in the literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century. He regularly offers courses in satire, gender issues in the drama, and literature and the visual arts. His current area of scholarly interest is the connection between English pastoral poetry, landscape painting, and landscape gardening in the Eighteenth Century. Dr. Tatter maintains a world-class Web site on Stowe Landscape Gardens in Buckinghamshire, England.

Educational Background:

Ph.D. Ohio University 1984
M.A. Ohio University 1979
B.A. Houghton College 1976

Areas of Academic Interest:

Augustan satire
Restoration drama
Gender studies
Comparative arts

Courses Taught:

EH 208 Intermediate Writing (1)
The development of intensive analytical skills, precise and extensive vocabulary, and consciousness of style. (Satisfies either the Skills Foundations requirement in writing or Disciplinary Foundations requirement in humanities.) Prerequisite: EH 102 or placement by English faculty.

EH 220 Literature and the Social Experience (1) An introduction to the social interpretation of literature through study of a faculty-selected topic, focusing on a cultural movement, a social issue, or the perspective of a social group. Professor Tatter teaches a 1-Y version of this course that focuses on issues of gender, race, and class, and that requires 15 hours of service in the local community. The course can be taken only once for credit.
Prerequisite: EH 102 or 208.

EH 250 Survey of British Literature (1)
An introduction to major British prose and verse written from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present. Prerequisite: EH 102 or 208.

EH 349 Literature and the Arts (1)
A survey of the relationships among the art forms of a particular culture or historical period. Emphasis is placed on how literary works influenced or were influenced by larger cultural movements manifested in music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. Professor Tatter's section of this course examines the literature and sister arts in Great Britain during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. Fulfills the pre-1900 requirement for the major. Prerequisite: any 200-level literature course. (Category 1)

EH 420 Studies in the Drama (1)
A theoretical study of the drama.The focus of the course may change each time it is offered: for example, gender and the drama, dramatic form and theory, the theatre of the absurd. Professor Tatter's section of the course approaches the drama from a feminist critical perspective. Prerequisite: three 300-level literature courses. (Category 5)