Daniel E. Van Tassel

Daniel E. Van Tassel is the author of Back to Barron, a chronicle of growing up in small-town-and-rural mid-century America (2008), Journey by the Book: A Guide to Tales of Travels (2022), and Beyond Barron: A Memoir (2024).

He graduated from St. Olaf College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in literature from the University of Iowa. He taught at Concordia College, Pacific Lutheran University, California State University San Marcos, and, for over two decades, Muskingum College, where he served as academic dean and professor of English.

His scholarly publications include articles on Shakespeare, Hardy, Lawrence, and Beckett and numerous book reviews in Modern Fiction Studies.

Retired and living in Northfield, Minnesota with his wife Rhoda, he now teaches courses in the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium (CVEC). Subjects in his syllabi these days range from Humor, Poetry, Hardy (as both novelist and poet), Chaucer, and Shakespeare (including selected sonnets and plays), to American Nature Writers (Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson), Tales of Travel (critiques of selected imaginary and actual journeys), and Long Story Short.

For recreation, he takes to trails daily on his mountain bike. In addition to reading, he enjoys participating in local theater, swimming, and home restoration and decorating. Current interests remain centered on travel literature, architecture, and ecology.