MICHAEL Y. BENNETT is a literary and theatre critic and a philosopher of theatre at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he is an Associate Professor of English and Affiliated Faculty in Philosophy. He will also be a Life Member at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, where he will be a Visiting Fellow in Summer 2020. He is the author or editor of eleven books.

Bennett’s work, generally, explores the intersection between philosophy and the theatre and literary arts. More specifically, his criticism and theories on modern drama, and  particularly absurd drama and Oscar Wilde, take a structural and/or philosophical approach. His analytic approach to the philosophy of theatre investigates performance (broadly defined) by way of description, in order to 1) better understand the art form, itself, and 2) help address current metaphysical and epistemological problems and debates.