Larry F. Norman focuses on the literature of French and European 17th and 18th century, and theater across the ages. His interests include theater history, book history, intellectual and cultural history, literary criticism and theory, and the relation between the visual arts and literature. He is the author of The Public Mirror: Molière and the Social Commerce of Depiction.

In his new role as Deputy Provost for the Arts, Norman advances the integration of the academic, co-curricular and professional arts into the University community and strive to deepen the University's cultural connections with the city of Chicago.