Author of Back to Barron, a chronicle of growing up in small-town-and-rural mid-century America, Daniel E. Van Tassel, the son of a Lutheran minister, graduated from St. Olaf College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in literature from the University of Iowa.
He taught at 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, whose career focused on teaching courses in art history and the humanities, he now teaches courses, both in-person and via Zoom, in the Cannon Valley Elder Collegium program. Subjects in his syllabi these days range from Humor, Poetry, Thomas Hardy, Chaucer, and Shakespeare to American Nature Writers, particularly Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson.
For recreation, he takes to trails daily on his mountain bike. Besides reading, he enjoys participating in local theater, swimming, and home restoration and decorating. Current interests remain centered on travel literature, architecture, and ecology, especially as manifested in climate change and endangered species.
The past ten years he spent writing and revising a manuscript now published as Journey by the Book: A Guide to Tales of Travel. Focusing on works recounting a voyage, pilgrimage, or journey, it was designed to appeal to armchair travelers.
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Daniel Van Tassel
Journey by the Book3 reviews$19.95A Guide to Tales of Travel Your compass is poin...A Guide to Tales of Travel Your compass is pointing at the magnetic field of travel. Journey by the Book is a tool enabling the pathfinder—whether tenderfoot or veteran scout—to explore uncharted s... -
Daniel Van Tassel
Beyond Barron$16.95A Memoir Beyond Barron, the second volume of a ...A Memoir Beyond Barron, the second volume of a memoir initiated by the publication of Back to Barron (in 2008), encompasses captivating humor and telling detail to narrate the story of author Van T...