Real History and the enemies of Free Speech

Posted Wednesday, July 11, 2001

Who is Dr Andrew Mathis?

A correspondent informs us: "Mathis claims to have initiated the first "anti-hate" website, The Web of Hate. That site is defunct, but parts remain located at: http://www.geocities.com/andrewmathis/

Among the items on that page I found this most revelatory item:

" Interracial Sites on the WWW <http://www.eden.com/~crusader/irsites.html> links here. I'm all for interracial marriages: even seen the garbage that inbreeding causes? But kids, I don't budge on Jewish intermarriage. If you're gonna marry a Jew, convert to Judaism <http://www.convert.org> . I did it! After all, as Rabbi Harold Kushner said, "We import better than we export." And think, you get to learn the ZOG handshake!"

and here is the CV of the learned professor, which speaks volumes and is reproduced here in full from his homepage: http://www51.homepage.villanova.edu/andrew.mathis/

Andrew E. Mathis

Dept. of English

Villanova University

Villanova, PA 19085

215-893-1759

andrew@mathis.net

EDUCATION

Ph.D., New York University, English Literature, January 2000
M.Phil., New York University, English Literature, September 1997
M.A., Villanova University, English Literature, September 1991
B.A., Villanova University, English Literature, May 1990

DISSERTATION

American Avalon: Arthuriana in Modern American Fiction and Society Dissertation Advisor: Josephine Hendin Arthuriana plays a significant but largely unexplored role in American literature and culture. I argue that it has provided a social, political, behavioral, and aesthetic model that has been exploited by writers who represent a broad spectrum of genres and views. Although Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur has served as the prototype from which most American writers using Arthuriana draw, it is supplemented by mention of other, lesser known sources. I trace the uses of the Arthurian cycle of mythology from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, through the long career of John Steinbeck, the detective novels of Raymond Chandler, the epic fiction of John Gardner, and finally the topsy-turvy postmodern universe of Donald Barthelme. All these texts illustrate how Arthuriana has focused on social, political, and aesthetic issues and dramatized developments in characterization, manners, and mores. Used to support ideologies of both the left and the right -- to attack monarchy, support populist ideals, advance or attack the cause of Fascism or Nazism -- Arthuriana has also served the stylistic purpose of embellishing narrative structures and informing modern versions of the chivalric ideal in popular culture. Moreover, Arthuriana plays a key role in the development of philosophic issues at the core of the novels discussed. By illuminating its uses and adaptability in representative American texts, I argue for the ongoing importance of the Arthurian cycle in American writing since Twain.

PUBLICATIONS

Books American Avalon: Arthuriana in Modern American Fiction and Culture, scheduled for Fall 2001 release by McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, N.C. Articles "The Big Sleep: The Celtic Connection." Clues: A Journal of Detection 18.2 (1997): 81-97. "Good Reading on the Internet? Yesss!" Kirkus Reviews 65.6 (1997): 395. "Barthelme's The King and the Death of the Text." Massachusetts Studies in English 2.3-2.4 (1992): 58-71. GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS Student Travel Award, New York University, Summer 1997. LECTURES AND CONFERENCE PAPERS "William D. Pelley's The Door to Revelation: Mein Kampf for the (American) Masses." 31st Popular Culture Association Annual Conference, Philadelphia, Pa., April 2001. "The Turner Diaries: Political Novel, Terrorist Handbook, or Both?" Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Hartford, Conn., March 2001. "Postwar Diplomacy and Barthelme's The King." 34th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Mich., May 1999. "From Haymarket to Camelot: The Knights of Labor and Twain's Connecticut Yankee." Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, San Antonio, Texas, September 1998. "Gold Cups and Silver Shirts: John Steinbeck and William Dudley Pelley." 33rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Mich., May 1998. "King Lear: The 'Arthurized' Version." 12th International Congress on Medievalism, Canterbury, England, August 1997.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Department of English, Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. Adjunct Professor, Composition (2 sections), Spring 2001 Adjunct Professor, The Literary Experience (2 sections), Fall 2000 Adjunct Professor, Composition, Fall 2000 Department of Core Humanities, Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. Adjunct Professor, Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Thought, Spring 2001 Department of Speech and Communications, St. Vincent's College of St. John's University, Jamaica, N.Y. Adjunct Instructor, Composition (3 sections), Fall 1996 Department of English, New York University, New York, N.Y. Teaching Assistant, Major American Writers, Spring 1994

RELATED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Co-Chair, NYU American Literature Group, 1998-1999 Book Reviewer, Kirkus Reviews, 1997-1999 Editor-in-Chief, Independent Review, http://www.independentreview.com/ Member, Board of Directors, The Holocaust History Project, http://www.thhp.org/ <http://www.holocaust-history.org/> Instructor, The Princeton Review, New York, N.Y., 1994-1998 Member, Modern Language Association, Northeast Modern Language Association, Popular Culture Association

LANGUAGES Strong knowledge of French; working knowledge of Spanish and Hebrew

REFERENCES Prof. Josephine Hendin, Dept. of English, New York University, (212) 998-8804 Prof. John Franzetti, Dept. of Communications, Media, and Professional Studies, College of Professional Studies, St. John's University, (718) 990-7433 Prof. Cyrus Patell, Dept. of English, New York University, (212) 998-8827 Prof. Evan Radcliffe, Dept. of English, Villanova University, (610) 519-4648