Dr. William Brewer

Dr. William “Bill” Brewer joined Appalachian State University’s Department of English in 1987. He researches British Romantic literature, a literary period whose themes inform – and remain relevant to – much of modern-day culture. During this period, according to Brewer, authors wrote about humanity’s connection to nature, the growth of suburbia, women’s rights, disabilities, the performativity of gender, and an ethic of care for animals.

Brewer has published four monographs, edited three collections of essays, compiled scholarly editions of Romantic-era novels, plays and essays, and published numerous essays on literature of the British Romantic period. Since 2017, he has served as the book review editor for European Romantic Review. His study of dueling and other forms of interpersonal violence during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, titled “Representing and Interrogating Dueling, Caning, and Fencing during the Romantic Period,” was published by Liverpool University Press in 2025. Among his scholarly editions are Hannah Cowley’s previously unpublished comedy “The World as It Goes; or A Party at Montpelier” (performed 1782) and the first reprinting in over a century of Regina Maria Roche’s classic and best-selling novel, “The Children of the Abbey” (1796). His introduction to the novel discusses its influence on Jane Austen and calls for reconsideration of Roche as an important early Irish novelist. In 2003, Brewer received the College of Arts and Sciences’ Donald W. Sink Outstanding Scholar Award, which honors a tenured faculty member in CAS who has made outstanding scholarly contributions throughout their career.

 Areas of expertise

• British Romantic literature – 1789 (the French Revolution) to 1837 (reign of Queen Victoria)
• Gender issues
• Dueling
• Women’s rights
• Transgender issues
• Ecology and the environment