“To enrich our understanding of narrative and metaphor is to deepen our love of God, the magnificent author of our shared story.”— Lorraine Murphy
Faculty Information
Additional Faculty Information for Lorraine Murphy
Education
B.A. in English, Davidson College, 1998
M.A. in English, Loyola University Chicago, 2004
Ph.D. in English, Loyola University Chicago, 2009
Courses Taught
ENG 104: Great Books in the Western Tradition
ENG 105: Great Books in the British and American Traditions
ENG 201: Great Books in the Continental Tradition
ENG 330: Restoration and Romantic British Literature: 1660-1830
ENG 401: The Eighteenth-Century Novel
ENG 401: Language, Reality, and Truth in Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters
ENG 403: The Rise of Narrative Realism
ENG 403: Literary Parables: The Short Story and Morality in Literature
Collegiate Scholars Program: Erich Auerbach’s Mimesis
Biography
My love for the study of literature is a gift I’ve received from my parents and many inspiring schoolteachers, and my vocation is to share that gift with my students.
I believe the study of literature addresses a basic human need to understand who we are, where we come from, and what we can hope for our future. I believe the ultimate answer to these questions is found in the Christian Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ—and I also believe that the richer our understanding of narrative and metaphor as ways of knowing, the more our eyes and ears will be opened to that truth. I teach with the conviction that the study of great literature is good for the soul.
My teaching at Hillsdale College centers on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction, but I enjoy teaching a wide range of texts, from Homer’s Odyssey to Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping. I also serve as faculty advisor to the “Cravats and Bluestockings” Regency-Era Appreciation club and as faculty secretary for Phi Kappa Phi, our all-disciplines honor society. I was honored to receive the Emily Daugherty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014.