Eric Wolfe
-
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
English
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
Ph.D., American Literature, minor in Literary Theory, Indiana University, 1997.
A.B. with distinction, History and Economics, Stanford University, 1984.
“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.