About

Dr. Brandon Essary is Associate Professor of Italian; Associate Chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures; and Italian Studies Coordinator at Elon University.

He completed his PhD in Italian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2012. His dissertation title was “The Economy and Parody of Matrimony in Boccaccio’s Decameron,” and reflects several research interests: Boccaccio, the Decameron, and matrimony in medieval and early modern Italy. He also studies, writes on, and enjoys teaching the lives and works of Dante and Petrarch.

He is interested in innovative approaches to teaching Italian language and literature. For instance, Prof. Essary has taught Italian language and history through paleography and calligraphy. He teaches medieval and Renaissance language, literature and culture with video games (e.g. Dante’s Inferno; Assassin’s Creed; any many more).