Faculty Profiles
Max Chapnick
I study, teach, and write about the intersection between literature, science, and politics. As a literary historian, I am invested in understanding how events of past influenced literature and vice versa. My particular interest and expertise concerns novels written in nineteenth century Britain and the United States, but my research covers global concerns, longer time periods, and different genres.
My current book project is called Wild Science: Radical Politics and Rejected Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century Fiction. This book examines how British and American nineteenth-century writers employed pseudo-science—or what I call "rejected knowledge"—to challenge the consolidating power of science and the state. I argue that progressive-minded authors harnessed the discourses of non-traditional sciences (including mesmerism, spiritualism, and African American conjure) to resist the coordination between science and empire.
- PhD in English and American literature, Boston University
- MA in English and American literature, Boston University
- MA in Creative Writing Poetry, Victoria University of Wellington
- B.S. in Physics, Washington and Lee University
- B.A. in English, Washington and Lee University
- Nineteenth Century Fiction
- Victorian Literature
- Early American Literature
- History of Science
- ENLT 362 Contemporary Global Literature: Retelling Classic Novels
- ENLT 151 & 151 W Introduction to Literature: Bad Doctors