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Robin Blyn

Biography

Her first book, “Freak-garde: Extraordinary Bodies and Revolutionary Art in America,” traces the arts of the freak show from P.T. Barnum to Matthew Barney and reveals how a form of mass culture entertainment became the basis for an American avant-garde tradition. She has also published numerous essays and book chapters, including work on modernist writers Djuna Barnes and Nathanael West, and contemporary writers Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, Karen Tei Yamashita and Tim O’Brien. Her current projects focus on neoliberalism, network aesthetics and the anarchist imagination.

Blyn has worked with students outside of the classroom in various capacities. Over the years, she has served as founder and faculty director of the UWF Book Club, advisor to the UWF student literary journal, Troubadour; advisor to the English club, Much Ado; and sponsor of the UWF chapter of Amnesty International. She received distinguished teaching awards in 2011, 2004 and 2001.

Degrees & Institutions

Blyn received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in English and history, a master’s degree in creative writing from Temple University, and a doctorate degree in English from the University of Washington.

Keywords: 20th century American literature, contemporary American literature, American culture, critical theory