University Park, PA -- On Thursday, April 11, 4:00 to 6:00 pm, Richard Rambuss, professor of English, Emory University, will give a lecture titled "Bad Taste, Bad Faith," in the Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library, followed by a reception in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.

Rambuss is a specialist in queer literary theory and literature and culture of the English Renaissance. He is the author, most recently, of Closet Devotions, a study of the gender and sexual politics of seventeenth-century religious writing, and of Spenser's Secret Career, about the poet Edmund Spenser. In addition, he has published numerous articles on medieval and Renaissance poetry and contemporary American film and culture.

His talk will explore the queer aesthetics of Richard Crashaw's verse. Rambuss also will conduct a seminar on his work on Friday, April 12, 10:00 to 11:30 am, in the English Department's Grucci Poetry Room in Burrowes Building. A sign-up sheet will be available in 103 Burrowes, along with the seminar readings.

This is the fifth lecture of "Millennium, Approached: Queer Literary Studies in the 21st Century: A Lecture/Discussion Series," organized by Penn State's English Department. Rambuss' presentation is also part of the Social Sciences Library's First Friday series, intended to bring together researchers and others interested in social sciences research. For more information on both series, visit http://english.la.psu.edu and check under "Projects and Events."

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Professor Vincent A. Lankewish at 814-865-4383.