Marvin W. Hunt

Marvin W. Hunt is an American Renaissance historian, author, and academic. He is a professor emeritus in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the North Carolina State University.

Hunt is most known for his work on the English Renaissance, particularly on Shakespeare, and maintains a secondary interest in creative nonfiction, primarily focused on travel writing. His travel stories have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The North Carolina Literary Review. In addition, he is the author of two books Looking for Hamlet, which received a starred Kirkus review and Among the Children of the Sun: Travels in the Family Islands of the Bahamas. He also serves as the Associate Editor of the New Variorum Hamlet project and is an editor of hamletworks.org. Hunt also serves on the board of advisors of the Rasmussen-Hines Rare Book and Manuscript Collection.

Education
Hunt obtained his Baccalaureate degree in English and Psychology from East Carolina University in 1973, and went on to earn a master's degree in English from the same university in 1976. His master's thesis was entitled "Ignatius his Conclave: John Donne’s Anatomy of the World". In 1987, he completed his Ph.D. in Renaissance and Eighteenth Century studies, with a thesis titled "The Semiology of Character in Sir Philip Sidney's Fiction," under the direction of S. K. Heninger Jr.

Career
Following his master's, Hunt began his academic career as a Teaching Assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1980 and was appointed as a Lecturer there in 1985. After the completion of his Ph.D., he held brief appointments as assistant professor at East Carolina University, Elan College, and Campbell University. In 1993, he started working as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at North Carolina State University where he taught until 2018. Since, he has been serving as Professor Emeritus in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Research
Hunt has worked on the literary contributions of Shakespeare and has authored academic essays and articles on the subject. He has authored non-fiction literary works that explore his travel experiences.

English renaissance
Hunt's investigation of the English Renaissance began with a concentration on Sir Philip Sidney's literary practices and personal life. In his research, he presented the idea that Sidney's narratology can be analyzed through Saussurian linguistics, emphasizing the significance of character placement within the plot. Shifting his focus to the works of Shakespeare in the early 1990s, he examined various aspects of the playwright's writings through conferences and publications. Among his notable contributions is the book, Looking for Hamlet, in which he presents the concept that Hamlet could be understood as a metaphorical missing person, who could only be discovered and understood through a process of self-identification. The work received praise for its accessible nature, as noted by Frank Nicholas Clary in his review, where he observed, "Beyond its title, there are early indications that this book has been designed for… diverse audience[s]," both popular and scholarly.

Travel
Hunt's research include a secondary focus on travel writing. He has contributed articles and a book based on his travel experiences. One of his articles recounted his time in Eleuthera, Bahamas, published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, while another publication featured an opinionated guide to the Bahamas in The Washington Post. He photographed the beauty of flamingos as well in an article titled, “Counting Flamingos of Great Inagua” for The New York Times. Furthermore, he explored the geology, social, and cultural history of the Family Islands of the Bahamas in his book, Among the Children of the Sun: Travels in the Family Islands of the Bahamas, shedding light on the real lives and challenges of the island's inhabitants. The New York Times also published his piece "A Hidden Treasure No Longer" in 2001, which revealed insights into life on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina.