Miller, Lynn C. 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born 1951. Education: University of North Dakota, B.A.; Northwestern University, M.A.; University of Southern California, Ph.D. Hobbies and other interests: Hiking, gardening.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Austin, TX; Albuquerque, NM. Office—Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station D3900, Austin, TX 78712-0362. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

University of Texas at Austin, professor of performance as public practice; has also taught at the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University; has worked as an advertising copywriter, art critic, continuing education administrator, and in miscellaneous positions at a television station.

MEMBER:

National Communication Association.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Ronald J. Pelias) The Green Window: Proceedings of the Giant City Conference on Performative Writing, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 2001.

Passenger on the Ship of Fools (play), first performed at the Yaddo artists' retreat, 2002.

The Fool's Journey (novel), Windale (Houston, TX), 2002.

(Editor, with Jacqueline Taylor and M. Heather Carver) Voices Made Flesh: Performing Women's Autobiography ("Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography" series), University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2003.

Death of a Department Chair (mystery novel), Terrace Books (Madison, WI), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Lynn C. Miller is a professor and author whose academic and research interests span such artistic areas as autobiographical performance, solo performance, gender and performance, performative writing, and adaptation of texts for stage and screen. She is also the author of novels steeped in the peculiarities of life in academia. In The Fool's Journey, literature professor Fiona Hardison finds herself in a romantic relationship with her department chair, Sigmund Froelich. Having direct access to the boss does not improve her chances for career advancement, however, as Froelich denies her a promotion because she has yet to complete a long-overdue biography of author Edith Wharton. Reeling from both the personal and professional blow, Fiona sets out to reevaluate her personal and professional life. Her journey of self-discovery involves unconventional methods, including Tarot readings, isolated retreats, and commiseration with sympathetic friends. Ultimately, Fiona finds her greatest relief and sense of accomplishment in writing about Wharton. As she writes, she notices a series of uncomfortable parallels between herself and Wharton, and she uses them as springboards to render important changes in her own life. Reviewer Carol Haggas, writing in Booklist, called the novel "a smart, satiric send-up of the Machiavellian world of ivory tower passions and politics."

Death of a Department Chair is a murder mystery novel set at the fictitious Austin University. Miller "shows much promise as she delves into the cutthroat world of academia with appealing, believable characters," constructing a "cohesive plot that realistically illustrates university life and supplies an engaging heroine, professor Miriam Held," according to Oline H. Cogdill in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Miriam works as a literature professor at Austin University, and when her department chair, Isabel Vittorio, is discovered murdered in her office, Miriam is the prime suspect. The police focus on the fact that Miriam and Isabel were ex-lovers, and note a professional conflict between the two based on their bitter battle for the department chair position. Isabel and Miriam were also in vigorous disagreement over a new hire for the department, a brilliant female African American academic favored by Miriam but ignored by Isabel, who pushes ahead to hire a woman with whom she was currently having an affair. Topped by the fact that Miriam was the last one to see Isabel alive, her defense seems unable to overcome the circumstantial evidence against her. Miriam, however, is vigorously determined to not be framed for a murder she did not commit. She sets about clearing her name and determining the identity of the true murderer. She realizes that Isabel was widely despised by faculty, students, and even casual acquaintances, and that the pool of potential murderers is extensive. Booklist reviewer Sue O'Brien observed that "fans of mysteries set in academia will relish the details of university life" portrayed in Miller's novel.

Miller told CA: "The two novels, The Fool's Journey and Death of a Department Chair, both take place partly in university settings, but I think they're telling of the vagaries of institutional/corporate life in general. I wrote both books after observing campus politics; in particular, I am interested in the different ways women handle power and how few models there are in institutional life for doing so. I was also fascinated by the rivalries and not-so-buried grudges that simmer under the surface when people work together for many years, as many faculty do. In Death of a Department Chair, race and sexuality, and the politics around them, take center stage, forcing the characters to reveal their prejudices and motives.

"I'd primarily like readers to think about the codes of behavior that govern the places where they spend their time. This includes family life as well as work. What is acceptable? Who decides what is appropriate and necessary? And, perhaps most important, how do we maintain integrity and freedom in the face of cultural pressures to conform and keep on keeping on?

"I'm very interested in the spiritual journeys—the mythic, heroic journeys if you will—that people embark on to free themselves from institutional shackles and find their passions in life and work. That is the underlying theme of The Fool's Journey in particular."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2002, Carol Haggas, review of The Fool's Journey, p. 208; October 1, 2006, Sue O'Brien, review of Death of a Department Chair, p. 42.

BookPage, November, 2002, review of The Fool's Journey, p. 12.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of Death of a Department Chair, p. 879.

Mystery Scene Magazine, Holiday, 2006, Jeff Siegel, review of Death of a Department Chair.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 3, 2007, Oline H. Cogdill, review of Death of a Department Chair.

ONLINE

Lynn C. Miller Home Page,http://www.lynncmiller.com (March 4, 2007).

University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance Web site,http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/ (March 4, 2007), biography of Lynn C. Miller.