School of Writing, Literature, and Film

Current Research

My ongoing research is focused on issues relating to contemporary American literature, literature and science, environmental literature, and material culture. My monograph The Practice of Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture (Stanford University Press, 2014) examines the emergence in late twentieth-century American literature and culture of new figures—“rugged consumers”—who creatively misuse, reuse, and repurpose objects in their environments to suit their idiosyncratic needs and desires. In its discussion of rugged consumer representations, the book offers new ways of understanding how economic and environmental anxieties influence cultural artifacts during the contemporary period.  A related story on how these ideas apply to maker culture is available here.

My monograph-in-progress is tentatively entitled "Epizootic Encounters: A Literary History of Animal Disease." Among other things, the project explores how American and English literature represents and critiques the biopolitical management of large-scale animal disease outbreaks.  A section of the project was published by Critical Inquiry.  Related, shorter works are available in The Washington Post here and here and at Punctum Books here.

In recent years, I have become interested in public outreach projects, including the popular "The Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms" video series, which I have directed, edited, and managed since 2019.  You can see a few of my videos below.

In the winter and spring terms of 2022, I served as Fulbright Distinguished Chair of American Studies at the University of Warsaw.

Monograph

The Practice of Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2014.

Refereed Articles

"On the origin of 'Oops': The Language and Literature of Animal Disease" Critical Inquiry 45.4 (2019): 839-858.

“Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table: Chemistry as Posthumanist Science." Configurations 24.4 (2016): 417-440.

“Climate-Change Infrastructure and the Volatilization of Contemporary American Regionalism.” Modern Fiction Studies 61.4 (2015): 715-730.

“‘Some new dimension devoid of hip and bone’: Remediated Bodies and Digital Posthumanism in Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story.” Arizona Quarterly 71.4 (2015): 107-127.

 “Narrative Disruption as Animal Agency in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing.” Modern Fiction Studies 60.3 (2014): 544-561. Reprinted in Philosophical Approaches to Cormac McCarthy: Beyond Reckoning.  New York: Routledge, 2017.

“Regeneration Through Misuse: Rugged Consumerism in Contemporary American Culture.” PMLA 127.3 (2012): 526-541. Reprinted in Literary Criticism: Chuck Palahniuk. New York: Cengage, 2014.

“William Gibson’s Paternity Test.” Configurations 19.1 (2011): 25-48.

“‘Anything can be an instrument’: Misuse Value and Rugged Consumerism in Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men.” Contemporary Literature 50.4 (2009): 721-741.

“‘My Newish Voice’: Rethinking Black Power in Gwendolyn Brooks’s Whirlwind.” Callaloo 29.2 (2006): 531-544.  Reprinted in Critical Insights: Gwendolyn Brooks.  Ed. Mildred R. Mickle.  Pasadena: Salem Press, 2009.  254-276. and Poetry Criticism. Volume 138. Independence: Gale, 2013.