Last Updated: 2 September 2018
EMPLOYMENT
Colby College, Waterville, ME
Assistant Professor of English, September 2015-present
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Visiting Assistant Professor of English, August 2013-August 2015
Lecturer in English, August 2012-August 2013
EDUCATION
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
D.Phil. in English, May 2012
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
M.A. in Cultural Studies, January 2008
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
M.A. in English, May 2006
B.A. in Political Science with Legal Studies, May 2004
BOOKS
A World of Disorderly Notions: Quixote and the Logic of Exceptionalism (monograph)
University of Virginia Press (forthcoming Spring 2019)
Connecting the Dots: The Rise of the Data Narrative (monograph)
Under review at MIT Press (introduction and two sample chapters drafted)
Science and Technology in British Literature, 1600-1800 (edited volume)
Bucknell University Press Aperçus Series (solicited, 6 of 8 chapters submitted)
JOURNAL ARTICLES
7. Perlocutionary Verse in Augustan England
Modern Philology 114.3 (2017): 657-79
6. Quixotism as Global Heuristic: Atlantic and Pacific Diasporas
Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 46 (2017): 49-62
5. Margaret Cavendish’s Anthropocene Worlds
New Literary History 47.1 (2016): 49-66
4. Toward a Counter-Poetics of Quixotism
Studies in the Novel 46.2 (2014): 141-58
3. Gender-Class Kyriarchy in The Female Quixote and Female Quixotism
The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation 55.1 (2014): 77-96
2. Re-Reading Gulliver as Quixote: Toward a Theory of Quixotic Exceptionalism
Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate 21.2-3 (2012): 278-303
1. Quixotic Influence and the Underhill Legacy in The Algerine Captive
Comparative American Studies 9.2 (2011): 119-30
In Preparation (excluding work currently under review)
“Testimonial Injustice and the Rise of the Novel” (partial draft at 1500 words)
“Marianne’s System in Sense and Sensibility” (partial draft at 1024 words)
BOOK CHAPTERS
2. Smollett’s Ramblers and the Law of the Land
A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature in Honor of Greg Clingham, ed. Anthony Lee (New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, forthcoming 2019)
1. Teaching Literature in the Age of Trump
Trumping Ethical Norms, eds. L Sandy Maisel and Hannah E. Dineen (New York: Routledge,
Forthcoming, March 2018)
BOOK REVIEWS
4. Review of David Alff, The Wreckage of Intentions: Projects in British Culture, 1660-1730
Digital Defoe (forthcoming)
3. Review of Howard Marchitello, Evelyn Tribble, Palgrave Handbook of Early Modern Literature and Science
The Scriblerian (forthcoming)
2. Review of Christopher Flynn, Americans in British Literature: A Breed Apart, 1770-1832
British Association for Romantic Studies Bulletin and Review 42 (2012): 56-7
1. Review of John Nery, Revolutionary Spirit: Jose Rizal in Southeast Asia
Oxonian Review of Books 18.1 (2011)
RESEARCH GRANTS & HONORS
18. Digital Humanities Summer Workshop Grant ($1393)
Colby College, 2018
17. Faculty Research Grant ($4092)
Colby College, 2018
16. Visiting Scholar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
University of Cambridge, 2018-19
15. Visiting Scholar, Downing College, Cambridge
University of Cambridge, 2019-19
14. Humanities Division Area I Research Grant ($3000)
Colby College, 2017
13. Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship ($6000)
Huntington Library, 2016
12. Humanities Division Area I Research Grant ($2961)
Colby College, 2016
11. Summer Academic Grant (declined) ($10,000)
Georgetown University, 2015
10. Summer Academic Grant ($10,000)
Georgetown University, 2014
9. Clark Fellowship ($2500)
UCLA Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, 2013
8. John Fell Fund Digital Humanities Grant (declined) (seminar expenses)
University of Oxford, 2012
7. Visiting Fellowship (paid residency)
Chawton House Library, 2011
6. Vice-Chancellor’s Dissertation Fellowship (£2000)
University of Oxford, 2011
5. Bamborough Dissertation Grant (£1500)
Linacre College, University of Oxford, 2011
4. Travel Grant ($300)
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), 2011
3. Mary Blaschko Graduate Fellowship (tuition)
Linacre College, University of Oxford, 2010
2. Domus Research Prize
Linacre College, University of Oxford, 2010
1. James B. Reynolds Scholar (to the University of Oxford) ($20,000)
Dartmouth College, 2009
TEACHING GRANTS & HONORS
7. Center for the Arts and Humanities Course Development Grant ($2500)
Colby College, 2017
6. Center for the Arts and Humanities Course Development Grant ($2500)
Colby College, 2016
5. Nominee, College Academic Council Faculty Award
Georgetown University, 2015
4. Initiative on Technology-Enhanced Learning Grants (2) ($2500)
Georgetown University, 2014
3. Doyle Faculty Fellowship ($2500)
Georgetown University, 2013
2. Institute for Writing and Rhetoric Teaching Fellowship ($6000)
Dartmouth College, 2006-7
1. English Department Teaching Fellowship ($18,000)
Bucknell University, 2004-6
INVITED TALKS
5. “The Rise of the Data Narrative and the Rise of the Novel”
Department of English, SUNY Albany, Spring 2019 (upcoming)
4. Faculty Respondent, “Legacies of the Enlightenment Project Workshop”
Michigan State University, Fall 2018 (upcoming)
3. “The Literary History of Data and the Question of Scale”
Re:Enlightenment Praxis: Scaling Enlightenment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2018
2. “Fanny Hill and the Enlightenment History of Pain”
Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture Seminar, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2017
1. Panelist, “The Battle over Free Speech on College Campuses”
Institute of Politics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2016
CONFERENCE TALKS
18. “Is Data a Realist Genre?”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 2019 (upcoming)
17. Panelist, “The Uses and Misuses of Academic Freedom”
MLA Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 2019 (upcoming)
16. “The Data Narrative as an Enlightenment Genre”
Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society Annual Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 2018
15. “Is ‘the Humanities’ A System? The Case of the Eighteenth-Century Novel”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, 2018
14. “Fanny Hill, Consent, and the History of Erotic Pain”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, 2017
13. Panelist, “Reinventing the Ph.D.: Celebrating Change, Rethinking Resistance”
Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, Philadelphia, PA, 2017
12. “Neoliberal Critiques of the Humanities Ph.D.”
EC/ASECS Annual Conference, Fredericksburg, VA, 2016
11. “Writing about the Eighteenth Century in Contemporary Political Media”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, 2016
10. “Epistemology and the Public Humanities”
Virginia Humanities Conference, Marymount University, Arlington, VA, 2015
9. “Quixotism as Global Heuristic”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
8. “Active Functions of Poetic Form from Pope to Shelley”
Poetic Genre and Social Imagination, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2014
7. “Crushing Doubt in the Transnational Study of Don Quixote”
ASECS Annual Meeting, Cleveland, OH, 2013
6. “Quixotism and the Politics of Travel”
Traveling Identities, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK, 2011
5. “Toward the End of Now: Obsolescence and Futurity in Literary Study”
Uncertainty: Theory in the 21st Century, Royall Holloway, University of London, London, UK, 2011
4. “Natural Rights and Matrimonial Law in Gilbert Imlay’s The Emigrants”
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, 2011
3. “Sanctioned Sentimentality in the 18th c. Quixotic Narrative” (presenter, convener)
British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (BSECS) Annual Meeting, Oxford, UK, 2011
2. “Lineage and Identity in The Algerine Captive”
The Idea of Influence in American Literature, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2010
1. “Colonizing Crusoe”
Futures of American Studies Institute, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 2007
SEMINAR TALKS
19. “Teaching Literature in the Age of Trump”
Trumping Ethical Norms, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2018
18. “The Episodic Novel and the Systematic Eighteenth Century”
Colby English Work in Progress Seminar, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2017
17. Panelist, “Reporting and New Media Platforms”
Lovejoy Student Journalism Conference, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2017
16. “Origins of the Royal Society, Origins of the Novel”
Origins Speaker Series, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2017
15. “Is the Enlightenment a Closed System?”
The Public Sphere from Enlightenment to Post-Truth, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2017
14. “A History of Data, Big and Little”
Continuing Revolutions Speaker Series, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2016
13. “Learning to Fear”
Dissecting Violence: The Humanities Respond, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2016
12. “Abraham Cowley and the Poetics of Objectivity”
Colby Noontime Faculty Forum, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2016
11. “A Quixotic Theory of World Literature”
Colby English Research Roundtable, Colby College, Waterville, ME, 2015
10. “Prefacing Character from Cervantes to Smollett”
Clark Summer Institute, Clark Library, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
9. “Matters of Interpretation, or Interpretation Matters: A Case Study in Law/Literature”
The Oxford Law Interdisciplinary Discussion Group, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2011
8. “What is Literacy? The Problem of Don Quixote”
The Linacre Seminars, Linacre College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2011
7. “Early American Exceptionalism and the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World”
RAI Interdisciplinary Seminar, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2011
6. “Female Domestic Servants in the Fiction of Charlotte Lennox”
Chawton House Library Visiting Fellows Seminar, Chawton, UK, 2011
5. “Myths and Dreams: Don Quixote in New York”
American Literature Research Seminar, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2011
4. “Maids, Mistresses, and Monstrous Doubles”
Restoration to Reform, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2010
3. “The Princeton Whigs and the Literature of Politics, 1760-1800”
American Literature Research Seminar, University of Oxford, UK, 2010
2. “Alone in a Mad World: Reading Quixotes in Joseph Andrews and Modern Chivalry”
BSECS Early-Career Conference, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK, 2010
1. “Madness and Measure: Visionary Quixotism in the Late Eighteenth-Century”
Faculty of English Graduate Conference, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2009
TEACHING
Colby College
Courses Taught
9. “Literature Against Distortion” (EN239) (Humanities Lab), S’18
Enrollment: 26 Cap: 25
8. “Critical Theory” (EN271), S’18
Enrollment: 16 Cap: 15
7. “Age of Revolution” (EN 334), S’17
Enrollment: 19 Cap: 25
6. “Data and Literature in the Scientific Revolution” (EN 233), F’16
Enrollment: 18 Cap: 18
5. “Satire” (EN 235), F‘16
Enrollment: 22 Cap: 25
4. “Foundations of Literary Studies” (EN 200), F’16, S’17, F’17
Enrollment (F’16): 13 Cap: 15
Enrollment (S’17): 15 Cap: 15
Enrollment (F’17): 15 Cap: 15
3. “The Complications of Jonathan Swift” (EN 413), S’16
Enrollment: 7 Cap: 25
2. “Dating and Relationships in 18th Century British Literature” (EN 318), S’16, F’17
Enrollment (S’16): 20 Cap: 25
Enrollment (F’17): 18 Cap: 18
1. “Styles of Persuasion” (EN 120), F’15 (2 sections), F’17
Enrollment (F’15 S1): 16 Cap: 16
Enrollment (F’15 S2): 7 Cap: 16
Enrollment (F’17): 17 Cap: 16
Independent Studies Supervised
7. Eleanor Jackson ’19, “Kingsman Secret Service and 21st-Century Elitism,” (EN291) J’18
6. Ryohei Watanabe ’18, “Postcolonial and Historical Metaphor” (EN291), J’18
5. Holly Lauren Garcia ’20, “Representations of Dance in the 18th Century” (EN492), S’17
4. Siyuan Li ’17, “History and Rhetoric of Data Visualization” (EN492), S’17
3. Noah Tocci ‘17, “Gulliver’s Movements” (EN492), S’17
2. Andrew Della Volpe ‘17, “Satire for the Screen” (EN491), J’17
1. James Grote ’16, “Literatures of Reform, 1660-1740” (EN491), F’15
Honors Theses Supervised
2. Ryanne Desjardins ’18, “The Influence of 17th and 18th Century Transatlantic Literature on Developing
America’s Viewpoints on Minority Groups,” 2017-18
1. Noah Tocci ‘17, “The Bodily Lens of Satire: Swift’s Satirical Use of the Body,” 2016-17
Other Supervised Student Research
2. Grace Oh-Willeke ’21, CARA Fellow, “The History of Data Visualization”
1. James Grote ’16, Humanities Research Grant, “Writings of Abraham Cowley”
Georgetown University
Courses Taught
11. “Introduction to Critical Theory” (ENGL 260), S’15
10. “Rhetoric of 18th Century Poetry” (ENGL 332), S’15
9. “Restoration Drama” (ENGL 126), S’15
8. “Satire” (ENGL 278/224), S’14, Su’14, F’14 (undergraduate and graduate sections)
7. “18th Century Quixotism” (ENGL 333), F’13
6. “18th Century British Novel” (ENGL 143), Su’13, F’13
5. “Introduction to Transatlantic Studies” (ENGL 265), S’13
4. “17th-18th Century Women’s Writing” (ENGL 141/128, WGST 141/128) S’13, S’14, F’14
3. “The (Im)personal Essay” (WRIT 015), F’14
2. “99 Problems: Writing as Problem Solving” (HUMW 011), F’13, S’14
1. “Writing the Self” (HUMW 011), F’12 (2 sections)
University of Oxford
Tutorials
3. “Topics in American Literature: Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, West,” Hilary ’11
2. “Philip Roth,” Michaelmas ’10
1. “Ralph Waldo Emerson,” Michaelmas ’09
Lecture Series
2. “British-American Literary Contexts,” Michaelmas ’10
1. “Literature and Identity in the New Republic,” Michaelmas ’09
SERVICE
Colby College
College Level
Speaker, Colby Veritas Forum (Christian student/faculty dialogue with non-Christian speakers), 3/14/18
Speaker, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, SGA “What Matters to Me and Why Series,” 11/20/17
Speaker, Alumni College, “Is There a Data Revolution?,” 7/24/17
Presidential Task Force on Free Expression, F’17-present
Search Committee (outside member), Faculty Fellow in Early American History, F’17
Search Committee (outside member), Assistant Professor of Biology (cell biology), F’17
Speaker, In Community address to Colby Class of 2021, 8/31/17
Executive Committee, Center for the Arts and Humanities, F’17-S’18
Faculty Resident, F’17-present
College Affairs Committee, F’16-present
Faculty Advisory Committee on Communications, F’17-present
Science, Technology, and Society Program Advisory Board, F’16-present
Search Committee, Director of Campus Life, S’17
First-Year Review Committee, Head Coach, Women’s Field Hockey, S’17
Search Committee (outside member), Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology (ecology), S’16
Department Level
Search Committee, Faculty Fellow in Eighteenth-Century British Literature, F’17
Accreditation and Future Planning Committee, F’16-present
Curriculum Committee, English Department, F’15-S’17
Programming Committee, English Department, F’16-S’17
Search Committee, Visiting Assistant Professor (Poetry), F’15-S’16
Convener, Miller Commons, F’15-S’17
Georgetown University
University Level
Interviewer, Europe and Eurasia, Fulbright Program, F’14-S’15
Writing and Culture Seminar Design Working Group, F’12-S’14
Mentor (for faculty), Initiative on Technology-Enhanced Learning (ITEL) Cohort, F’14-S’15
Speaker, Doyle Faculty Seminar, 5/20/14
Speaker, Georgetown Admissions Ambassador Program Faculty Showcase, 4/11/14
Department Level
Ph.D. Program Working Group, S’13-S’14
University of Oxford
University Level
Appointed Member, Race Equality Working Group, Hilary ’10-Michaelmas ’12
Mentor, Bucknell in London Study Abroad Program, F’09-F’11
College Level
President, Linacre College Common Room, Hilary ’10-Trinity ’11
National Service and Peer Review
Postdoctoral Fellowship review, Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, S’18
Manuscript review, Eighteenth Century Fiction, F’17
Lab Director, MLA/Mellon Connected Academics Grant (Georgetown), 5/15-11/15
Manuscript review, Women’s Writing, F’15
Manuscript review, Bucknell University Press, F’16, F’17, S’18
Professional Development Seminars
Speaker, Oxford English Graduate Organization Session on the US Job Market, 2/20/17
Speaker, Georgetown English Graduate Association Panel on Publishing, 11/12/14
Speaker, Georgetown Professional Development Panel on Grant Proposals, 10/15/14
Professional Affiliations
Modern Language Association
American, British, and International Societies for Eighteenth Century Studies
MEDIA & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
I have published over 50 articles in venues including:
The New York Times (online and print)
The Washington Post (online and print)
The New Republic (online and print)
The Atlantic
Vox
Salon
Huffington Post
NBC
The Los Angeles Review of Books
Ploughshares Blog
The Chronicle of Higher Education (and The Chronicle Review) (online and print)
Academe (blog of the American Association of University Professors)
Bangor Daily News (online and print)
Alternet
Real Clear Politics
MSN
TV, Radio, and Podcast Appearances
10. Guest, Science and Fiction
Jedi Counsel Podcast, 2018
9. Guest, Free Speech Issues
Georgetown Free Speech Project, “Speaking Freely” with Sanford Ungar, 2018
8. Guest, “Do Campuses Need More Conservative Speakers, or Better Ones?”
NPR Wisconsin “Central Time,” 2018
7. Guest, Tucker Carlson Tonight
Fox News, 2017
6. Guest, Campus Politics
The Daily Pennsylvanian Podcast, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
5. Guest, Campus Politics
PROGRESS Channel, XM Radio, 2017
4. Guest, Campus Politics
POTUS Channel with Michael Smerconish, XM Radio, 2017
3. Guest, Legislation Affecting Campus Speech
Virginia Public Radio, 2017
2. Panelist, “The Infantilization of the American Undergraduate”
HuffPost Live (TV), 2016
1. Panelist, “Rants, Punchlines, and Trust in the Media”
To the Point (KCRW and NPR), 2015