William Lombardi
I’m from Quincy, California, a small town in the Mother Lode at the northern end of the Sierra Nevada range. I received my BA and MA in English from CSU-Chico.My area of inquiry is 19th and 20th century literature of the American West and the foundation for my research interests are literary biography and geography. I conceive of my research as place studies that emphasize the correlation between physical geographies and their literary depictions, both urban and rural. I have completed recovery work examining California poet Ina Coolbrith’s life and work, as well as literary mapping reconstructing John Muir’s 1874-5 journey through the Feather and Yuba River watersheds, and a critical review which “re-placed” Bret Harte’s first short stories in the same landscape. My recent projects range from archival analysis of early representations of Reno, to analysis of landscapes in postwestern novels, to the implications of considering place as performative. My approach is grounded in an array of spatial theory, bioregionalism, and critical regionalism. I am currently studying the intersection of critical regionalism and comparative ecocriticism. Likewise, my teaching interests are place-based. I have developed writing syllabi that investigate cultural meaning-making, in which students interrogate issues of personal, participatory relevance pertaining to Reno, Washoe County, and Nevada.
I am an avid fly fisherman. My home waters are in Plumas County, CA. I also fish Eagle Lake, CA and Pyramid Lake, NV, which are remnants of the ancient Lake Lahonton that once spread across the entire basin and range.
For more information, contact me at willlombardi.at.sbcglobal.net.