Michael G. Cornelius is an American scholar specialising in early

British literature British literature is from the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon (Old English) literature ...

and an author.

Background

Michael Cornelius was raised in

Summerhill, New York Summerhill is a town in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,217 at the 2010 census. The town name is that of a location in Ireland. Summerhill is in the southeastern corner of the county and is northeast of Ithaca. Hist ...

. After receiving a bachelor's degree at

St. John Fisher College St. John Fisher University is a private university in Rochester, New York in the United States. It is named after John Fisher, an English Catholic cardinal and saint. It was named St. John Fisher College until July 1, 2022. History St. John F ...

and a master's at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

, he completed a PhD in

medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...

at the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

. Subsequently, Cornelius joined Wilson College - a

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

women's college in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

- in 2002, where he currently holds the post of Chair of the Department of English and Mass Communications. He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. He now lives in

Chambersburg Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the Ma ...

with his partner, Joe.

Career

Professor

Cornelius has been published in a number of journals, including ''Fifteenth-Century Studies'', ''Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching'', ''The Delta Epsilon Sigma Journal'', and ''SCOTIA: A Journal of Scottish Studies''. An article he wrote on

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

ploughman A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, ...

appeared in the anthology ''Black Earth, Ivory Tower'', and he has completed a manuscript on

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

. Although he specializes in early British literature, he has also taught on the structure of the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

, and

gay and lesbian literature Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior. Overview and history Because the social acceptance of homosexualit ...

. He runs a

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

course at Wilson College, and was named a Pennsylvania Humanities Council scholar for 2006–2007, specialising in horror cinema.

Writer

In 2001, Cornelius (as "Michael G. Cornelius") published his first novel, ''Creating Man''. A story of God's accidental creation of human

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

s on the eighth day, told through a number of tales about

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...

, the novel was a finalist at the 2002

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

s, and was nominated for both an Independent Press Award and an American Library Association Award. Two years later, in 2003, he co-authored (with Kate Emburg) the first of the ''Susan Slutt - Girl Detective'' novels, a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

-style works. In 2007, Cornelius released his third novel - ''The Ascension'' - a religious-themed horror story. He has also published short fiction in various journals, magazines, and anthologies, including '' Velvet Mafia'', ''The Egg Box'', ''Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine'', ''The Spillway Review'', and ''Encore'', as well as in anthologies from ''Alyson Press'' and ''StarPress Books''.

Works

*''Creating Man'' (Vineyard Press, 2000) *''Susan Slutt - Girl Detective'' (with Kate Emburg) (Vineyard Press, 2003) *''The Ascension: A Novel'' (Breakneck Books, 2007)

References

External links

Official websiteReview of Creating Man
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius, Michael G. Living people American gay writers Gay academics Marshall University alumni St. John Fisher University alumni University of Rhode Island alumni Writers from New York (state) Year of birth missing (living people)