Expertise

I teach, and write about, nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and Canadian literature and culture.

A long-standing interest of mine is ecocriticism, specifically early American nature writing—hence my book on The Poetics of Natural History, my edition of the writings of John James Audubon, and the ecocritical anthology, A Keener Perception, which I co-edited with the art historian Alan Braddock (College of William and Mary).


Research: Ecocriticism; American nature writing; 19th Century American poetry;

Research Area:

  • Human Environment Interaction and Sustainability
  • Environment in the Arts and Humanities

Research Interests: nineteenth-century American and Canadian literature and culture

Past Affiliations

Adjunct Professor, Department of American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington

Professor, Department of American Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington

Professor, English Department, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (past)

Communities
Philosophy, English, North American Studies, History
Degrees
PhD, University of Bonn, Germany, 1997
PhD, University of Bonn, Germany, American Studies, 1991
MA, University of Bonn, Germany, 1988
Keywords
english language or literature
Languages
English, French, German, Italian
Honors

Faculty Fellowship (Agassiz: A Cultural Biography), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), 2005-2006

Summer Fellowship (Longfellow and American Middlebrow Culture), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), 2002-2002