David Anonby, PhD

Assistant Professor of English

David Anonby completed his PhD in English at the University of Victoria, his MA at the University of British Columbia, graduate courses in theology at ACTS, and his BA (Honours) at Trinity Western University. His doctoral dissertation, “Shakespeare and Soteriology: Crossing the Reformation Divide,” explores Shakespeare’s negotiation of Reformation theories of salvation. His research interests are early-modern literature, Shakespeare, John Donne, Reformation studies, the Bible and literature, and theology and literature.  He has published on Shakespearean drama and John Donne’s poetry, as well as writing poetry reviews for the Canadian Book Review Annual. He has been teaching English literature at Trinity Western University since 2002.

  • PhD in English (University of Victoria; 2020)
    • Dissertation, “Shakespeare and Soteriology: Crossing the Reformation Divide.” Supervisor: Gary Kuchar. Second Reader: Erin Kelly
    • Coursework on Shakespeare, Milton and the civil war, religion and Renaissance drama
    • Renaissance Major Field Exam
    • Focused Field Exam on Shakespeare and Religion
    • French and Latin language requirements
    • Dissertation chapters on The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, and King Lear
  • MA in English Literature (University of British Columbia;1998)
    • Graduating Essay, “Donne’s Rhetoric of Repentance:  The Holy Sonnets and the Development of Seventeenth-Century Devotional Poetry.” Supervisor: Paul Stanwood.
  • BA (Hons.) in English with Great Distinction (Trinity Western University; 1996 - Included a study year abroad in Nairobi, Kenya)

Expertise

Shakespeare, Early modern literature (Renaissance literature), Reformation and literature, Bible and literature, Theology and literature, Teaching Shakespeare, Teaching first year undergraduate literature courses

Awards & Honours

  • SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, $40,000 over 24 months (2016-2018)
  • Charles and Ruth Hayward Memorial Scholarship in English Literature, $2,375 (2015)
  • Outstanding Graduate Entrance Award, University of Victoria (2014)

Recent Publications

Monograph

  • Anonby, David. Shakespeare on Salvation: Crossing the Reformation Divide. Foreword by Gary Kuchar. Eugene: Pickwick Publishing, 2024.

Scholarly Book Chapters

  • Anonby, David. “The Sacred Pain of Penitence: The Theology of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets.” Suffering, the Sacred, and the Sublime: Trauma and Transcendence in Literature, edited by Holly Faith Nelson, Lynn Szabo, and Jens Zimmermann, Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2010, pp. 87-95. (Mentioned by Gregory Kneidel in The Year’s Work in English Studies, 91.1 (2012), p. 568.)
  • Anonby, David. “‘This Tempest in My Mind’: Demonology, Madness, and Recusancy in King Lear.” Love, Knowledge and the University: Essays and Poetry from the Christianity and Literature Study Group, Victoria, 2013, edited by John North, Waterloo: North Waterloo Academic Press, 2014, pp. 71-90.

Book Reviews

  • Rev. of The Village of Sliding Time, by David Zieroth. Canadian Book Review Annual 2006.
  • Rev. of Primer on the Hereafter, by Steve McOrmond. Canadian Book Review Annual 2006. 
  • Rev. of Turning Dirt into Jewels, by Jean Greenberg. Canadian Book Review Annual 2005: 217-218.
  • Rev. of Stealing Mercury, by Lori Cayer. Canadian Book Review Annual 2005: 212. 

Academic Conferences

  •  “‘The rack of this tough world’: Shakespeare’s Ecumenical Response to Southwell’s Martyrdom in King Lear.” Pacific Northwest Renaissance Society, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. (October 21, 2017)
  • “‘This Tempest in My Mind’: Demonology, Madness, and Recusancy in King Lear.” Christianity and Literature Study Group (Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English), University of Victoria, Victoria, BC. (June 3, 2013)
  • “Sin, Sex, Suffering, and Salvation in John Donne’s Holy Sonnets.” Christianity and Literature Study Group (Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. (June 2, 2008)
  • “The Sacred Pain of Penitence: The Theology of John Donne’s Holy Sonnets.” Western Regional Conference on Christianity and Literature. Trinity Western University, Langley, BC. (May 11, 2007)

Affiliations & Memberships

  • ACCUTE
  • Christianity and Literature
  • Christianity and Literature Study Group
  • Pacific Northwest Renaissance Society

  • ENGL 103 Introduction to Literature: Fiction
  • ENGL 104 Introduction to Literature: Poetry and Drama
  • ENGL/THTR 351 Shakespeare I
  • ENGL/THTR 352 Shakespeare II
  • WRTG 100 Writing in University Context