Fields of Interest:
Narrative has always been my primary interest. My early publications involved medieval Arabic literature, quasi-fictions, historiography, then the Arabian Nights. Psychoanalysis, especially Lacanian thought, became an important part of my work. In recent years I've begun publishing on the Blues, and my latest publication is a biography of blues musician Son House.
Representative Publications:
- Preachin' the Blues: The Life and Music of Son House (Oxford University Press, June 2011). Amazon»
- "The 'Lone Nut' Theory: Paranoia and Recognition in Contemporary American Fiction,"Recognition in Narrative, Film and Opera, ed. Philip F. Kennedy and Marilyn Lawrence, Peter Lang 2009, pp. 193-212.
- "Hardball: Political Violence and Ideology in Mamluk History," in Mamluk Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2004, pp. 201-226.
- Slave of Desire: Sex, Love and Death in The 1001 Nights. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. May 2002. Amazon»
- "Hard Boiled: Narrative Discourse in Early Muslim Traditions," Studia Islamica, 83, 1996, pp. 5-31.
