Eric Wolfe
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Associate Professor, English
- American Literature and Culture (especially from the beginnings through the nineteenth century); Cultural Studies; Literary Theory (including deconstruction and psychoanalysis); Political and Democratic Theory
Contact Info
- Email: eric.wolfe@UND.edu
- Office: 701.777.6988
- Dept: 701.777.3321
Office Address
Merrifield Hall Room 200C
276 Centennial Drive Stop 7209
Grand Forks, ND 58202-7209
Biography
I was born in New Jersey and grew up in a variety of places across the United States: New York, Delaware, Missouri, Ohio, California, Washington, and Iowa. Returning to California for college, I double-majored in History and Economics at Stanford University and then worked in corporate finance for a year in San Francisco. When I decided to return to graduate school, I chose to pursue an English degree because I realized that the elements of my History major that I enjoyed most were textual analysis and interpretation. I earned my Ph.D. from Indiana University in American Literature, with a minor in Literary Theory, and taught in Mississippi and South Carolina before coming to UND. I have continued to make use of my interest and background in history, and most of my publications—and many of my courses—focus on interpreting literature in cultural and historical context. I like to think about literature as performing complex kinds of cultural "work" in specific situations.
- American Literature and Culture (especially from the beginnings through the nineteenth century)
- Cultural Studies
- Literary Theory (including deconstruction and psychoanalysis)
- Political and Democratic Theory
“The Gothic and Radical Democracy in Melville's Benito Cereno.” In Jeffrey A. Weinstock and Monika Elbert (Ed.), Gothic Melville. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, forthcoming.
Guest Editor (with Lucy Ganje and Nuri Oncel), “Through the Wormhole,” North Dakota Quarterly 80.4-82.4 (Fall 2013-Fall 2015).
“Charles Chesnutt’s ‘The Dumb Witness’ and the Culture of Segregation.” (With Lori Robison.) Reprinted in Representing Segregation: Toward an Aesthetics of Living Jim Crow, and Other Forms of Racial Division. Albany: SUNY P, 2010. 57-72. Reprinted in Short Story Criticism: Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers. Vol. 184. Detroit: Gale, 2013. 88-96.
“Charles Chesnutt’s ‘The Dumb Witness’ and the Culture of Segregation.” (With Lori Robison.) African American Review 42.1 (Spring 2008): 61-73.
“Mourning, Melancholia, and Rhetorical Sovereignty in William Apess’s Eulogy on King Philip.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 20.4 (Winter 2008): 1-23.
“Writing on Boundaries: A Cultural Studies Approach to Literature and Writing Instruction.” (With Lori Robison.) Integrating Literature and Writing Instruction: First Year English, Humanities Core Courses, Seminars. Ed. Judith A. Anderson and Christine R. Farris. New York: Modern Language Association Press, 2007.
"Ventriloquizing Nation: Voice, Identity, and Radical Democracy in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland." American Literature 78.3 (2006): 431-57.
“Breaking the Silence: Sexual Preference in the Composition Classroom.” (With Allison Berg, Jean Kowaleski, Caroline LeGuin, and Ellen Weinauer.) Feminist Teacher 4.2-3 (1989): 29-32. Rpt. in Tilting the Tower: Lesbians/Teaching/Queer Subjects. Ed. Linda Garber. New York: Routledge, 1994. 108-16. Rpt. in The Feminist Teacher Anthology: Pedagogies and Classroom Strategies. Ed. Gail Cohee et. al. New York: Teachers College Press, 1998. 168-76.
Ph.D., American Literature, minor in Literary Theory, Indiana University, 1997.
A.B. with distinction, History and Economics, Stanford University, 1984.