Dennis W. Allen
English Department
P.O. Box 6296
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV 26506
(304) 293-9702
E-mail: dallen@wvu.edu
BACKGROUND:
Education:
Ph.D. University
of Minnesota,
1981
M.A. University
of New Mexico,
1975
B.A. University
of Kansas,
1973
Professional Appointments:
Professor, West Virginia University, 1994-present
Associate Professor, West Virginia University,
1987-1994
Assistant Professor, West Virginia University,
1982-1987
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota,
1981-1982
RESEARCH:
Honors:
Philip Bordinat Award for
Outstanding Scholarly Achievement: 1998
Outstanding Researcher in the Eberly College
of Arts and Sciences: 1995-1996
Philip Bordinat Award for Outstanding
Scholarly Achievement: 1993
Senate Research Grants, West Virginia University:
1983, 1985
Books:
Sexuality
in Victorian Fiction (Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1993). Volume 15 in the Oklahoma Project for Discourse and Theory.
Articles:
“A Place for Us:
Queer Space and the Lesbian and Gay Studies Classroom,” Frame: A Journal of Literary Studies, 22.1 (2009):
44-57.
Logjammin’ and Gutterballs:
Masculinities in The Big Lebowski.” In The Year’s Work in Lebowski
Studies. Eds. Edward Comentale and Aaron Jaffe.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009: 386-409.
With Jaime Hovey and
Judith Roof. "Enactivism: The Movie." In Gay
Shame. Eds. David Halperin and Valerie Traub. University of Chicago Press, 2009: 374-381.
“Boys Will Be Bois:
Masculinity and Pedagogy in the Gay and Lesbian Studies Classroom” In Masculinities
in Text and Teaching.
Ed. Ben Knights. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2008: 126-140.
"A Queer 'I' for the Straight Guy," Genders,
44 (2006).
http://genders.org/g44/g44_allen.html
"'Alimentary, Dr. Leiter':
Anal Anxiety in Diamonds are Forever." In James Bond, Ian
Fleming, and the Cultural Politics of 007. Eds. Stephen Watt and Edward Comentale. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005: 24-41.
"Rtmark: Viral
Activism and the Meaning of 'Post-Identity,'" MMLA Journal, 36
(2003): 6-24.
With Judith Roof. "Star Search:
Psychoanalysis and Marxism in Lesbian and Gay Studies." In Professions:
Conversations on the Future of Literary and Cultural Studies. Ed. Donald E.
Hall. Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 2001: 131-156.
"Past and Present," Victorian Poetry,
38 (2000): 477-486.
"Why Things Don't Add Up In The Sum of Us:
Sexuality and Genre Crossing in the Romantic Comedy," Narrative , 7
(1999): 71-88.
"Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Consumer's
Guide," in The Gay '90s: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Formations
in Queer Studies (Genders 26). Eds. Thomas Foster, Carol Siegel, and Ellen
E. Berry. New York:
NYU Press, 1997. 23-50.
"Homosexuality and Narrative," Modern
Fiction Studies , 41 (1995): 609-634.
"Homosexuality and Literature," Franco-Italica (Serie Contemporaine), 6 (1995): 11-27.
"Young England: Muscular Christianity and
the Politics of the Body in Tom Brown's Schooldays," in Muscular
Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age . Ed. Donald E. Hall. Cambridge UP, 1994.
114-132.
"Mistaken Identities: Redefining Lesbian and Gay
Studies." The Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, 21 (1994),
133-148. Queer Theory issue, guest-edited by Ross Chambers and Anne Herrmann.
"Jane Eyre and the Politics of
Style," in Approaches to Teaching Bronte's Jane Eyre, eds. Diane
Long Hoeveler and Beth Lau (New York: MLA, 1993):
110-115.
"Nick Adams, Domestic Goddess: Gender and Desire
in Hemingway's 'Big Two-Hearted
River,'" Cercles 1 (1991), 79-85.
"Sexuality/Textuality:
Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy ," Studies in English Literature, 25
(1985), 651-670.
"No Love for Lydia:
The Fate of Desire in Pride and Prejudice," Texas Studies in Literature and
Language , 27 (1985), 425-443.
"Homosexuality and Artifice in Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof ," Coup de theatre, 5 (1985), 71-78.
"Horror and Perverse Delight: Faulkner's 'A Rose
for Emily,'" Modern Fiction Studies, 30 (1984), 685-696. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jenny Cromie. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. 95-102.
"'By all the truth of signs': James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans," Studies
in American Fiction, 9 (1981), 159-180.
“The Wilderness
Convention in Main Street, Babbitt and Arrowsmith.” The Gypsy
Scholar, 6 (1979), 74-92.
Editing:
With Donald E. Hall. Guest Editor of the Victorian Sexualities
and Desires special issue of Victorian Poetry, 38 (Number 4, 2000).
Reviews and Review Essays:
Review of Donald E. Hall's Queer Theories , SAR
, 68 (Number 4, 2003): 95-97.
Review Essay: "The Marketing of Queer
Theory," College Literature, 25 (1998): 282-288.
Review of Alan Sinfield's Cultural
Politics--Queer Reading
, Modern Fiction Studies, 43 (1997): 544-546.
Review of Kevin Kopelson's Love's
Litany: The Writing of Modern Homoerotics,
Modern Fiction Studies, 41 (1995): 403-05.
Presentations:
“The Madness of Slavoj Zizek,” American
Comparative Literature Association, April 1-3, 2011, Vancouver, BC.
“Sheldon, The Anti-Milf,” Louisville
Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900, Feb. 24-26, 2011, University of Louisville.
“No Big Thing: The
Wire’s
Supplementary Logic,” Louisville Conference on
Literature and Culture Since 1900, Feb. 18-20, 2010, University of Louisville
“Winnie the Pooh and
Heisenberg Too: Simultaneity and the Language of Uncertainty,” Modernist
Studies Association, Nov. 5-8, 2009, Montreal.
“A Paper: In Which
Heisenberg and Milne Are Uncertain About Something,” American Comparative
Literature Association, March 26-29, 2009, Harvard University
“Jumping the Snark: Metacommentary and Autopoeisis on Gawker.com,” Louisville
Conference on Literature and Culture Since 1900, Feb. 19-21, 2009, University of Louisville
“Coming Home: The
Importance of the Fictional in Ave Maria, Florida.” Twentieth-Century Literature
Conference, Feb. 21-23, 2008, University of Louisville.
“Logjammin’ and Gutterballs:
Masculinities in The Big Lebowski,” The Lebowski Cult: An Academic Symposium, Sept. 28-29, 2006, Louisville.
"Why
Nobody Reads Firbank Anymore: Sontag, Camp, and Modernist Comedy,"
Modernist Studies Association, November 3-6, 2005, Chicago.
"A Queer 'I' for the Straight Guy,"
Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Feb. 24-27, 2005, University of
Louisville.
"'Alimentary, Dr. Leiter':
Anal Anxiety in Diamonds Are Forever," The Cultural Politics of Ian
Fleming and OO7, May 29-June 1, 2003, Indiana University.
"(En)Activism," with Judith Roof and Jaime
Hovey, Gay Shame, March 27-29, 2003, University
of Michigan.
"W," Twentieth-Century Literature
Conference, Feb. 27-March 1, 2003, University of Louisville.
"@narchy.com," Midwest Modern Language
Association, Nov. 8-10, 2002, Minneapolis.
"Queering The Sims," Society for the
Study of Narrative Literature, April 11-14, 2002, East Lansing, Michigan.
"Desperately Seeking Noir,"
Midwest Modern Language Association, Nov. 1-2, 2001, Cleveland.
"International Chat and Global Queer
Identity," Globalicities, 34th Conference in
Modern Literature, Oct. 18-20, 2001, East Lansing, Michigan.
"Magnetic Subjects," Twentieth-Century
Literature Conference, Feb. 22-24, 2001, University of Louisville.
"Father of Frankenstein:
Homosexuality as Contamination," Modern Language Association, Dec. 27-30,
2000, Washington, D.C.
"Homosexuality as Contamination in Gods and
Monsters ," Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Feb. 24-26, 2000,
University of Louisville.
"Poses Plastiques: The
Search for the Center in Tennessee Williams' "Two on a Party," Modern
Language Association, Dec. 27-30, 1999, Chicago.
"Dancing 'Til Brunch:
Gay Men and the Perversity of (Inter)National Citizenship," Cultural
Citizenship, 32nd Conference in Modern Literature, Oct. 21-23, 1999, East Lansing, Michigan.
"Joshing Around: Gay Male Characters in the
Situation Comedy," Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, Feb. 26-28,
1998, University of Louisville.
"Encoding the Private: The Secret Technologies of
Anne Lister's Diaries," Fifth Annual Meeting of the Group for Early Modern
Cultural Studies, Dec. 4-7, 1997, Chapel Hill, NC.
"Why Things Don't Add Up In The Sum of Us:
Sexuality and Genre Crossing in the Romantic Comedy," Society for the
Study of Narrative Literature, April 3-6, 1997, Gainesville, FL.
"Fetishizing
Queerness," Fourth Annual Meeting of the Group for Early Modern Cultural
Studies, Sept. 26-29, 1996, Pittsburgh.
"'Except for Lola': The Politics of Distinguishing
Gender and Sexual Orientation," Society for the Study of Narrative
Literature, April 25-28, 1996, Columbus,
Ohio.
"Bodies That Don't Matter: From Gay Identity to
Queer Representation," Inqueery/Intheory/Indeed:
The Sixth North American Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Studies Conference,
November 17-20, 1994, University
of Iowa .
"Cyberspace and Queer Identity," South
Atlantic Modern Language Association, November 11-13, 1994, Baltimore.
"Mistaken Identities, or What Judith Butler
Saw," Midwest Modern Language Association, November 4-6, 1993,
Minneapolis.
"Diamonds Are a Boy's Best Friend: Fathers and
Sons in Field of Dreams," Eighteenth Annual Conference on
Literature and Film, January 28-30, 1993, Florida State
University.
"Reversing the Gaze: The African Explorer as
Spectacle," Midwest Modern Language Association, November 14-16, 1991,
Chicago.
"Casaubon's Systems of Masculinity, Masculinity
as System in Middlemarch," Northeast Modern Language Association,
April 5-7, 1991, Hartford, CT.
"The Text as Body: The Mystery of Sexuality in Bleak
House," South Atlantic Modern Language Association, November 15-17,
1990, Tampa.
"Monstrous as Orchids: Desire in Dorian Gray,"
South Atlantic Modern Language Association, November 9-11, 1989, Atlanta.
"'Peter Was A Lady Then': The Problem of Gender
in Cranford," South Atlantic Modern Language Association, November
11-13, 1988, Washington, D.C.
"Language and Gender in Cranford,"
Discourses of Power, October 20-22, 1988, Arizona State University.
"Homosexuality and/as Artifice in Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof ," Societe des Anglicistes
de l'Enseignement Superieure,
March 10, 1985, France.
"Ones and Zeros: Lacan
and Pynchon," Institut d'Anglais,
Universite de Caen, November 15, 1984
TEACHING:
Honors:
WVU Foundation Outstanding
Teacher, 2009-2010
Outstanding Teacher in the College of Arts and
Sciences, 1987-1988, 2009-2010
Sigma Tau Delta Award for Outstanding Teacher in the
Department of English, 1996, 2006
Outstanding Faculty Member, Golden Key National Honor
Society, 1987-1988
Fulbright Junior Lectureship, France, 1984-85
Courses Taught:
Undergraduate:
English 102: Composition
English 131: American Fiction
English 132: Short Story
English 232: History of Literary Criticism
English 258: Popular Culture
English 288: Representations of Sexual Diversity in
Literature and Film
English 382: Contemporary Literary Theory
English 383: Cultural Studies
English 388: Topics in Lesbian and Gay Studies
English 496: Senior Thesis
Graduate:
English 336: English Novel: 1830-1900
English 383: Contemporary Literary Criticism
English 392: Desire in the Victorian Novel
English 392: Materialism in Victorian Fiction
English 392: Narrative Theory
English 392: Queer Theory
English 392: Men on Film: Gender Theory and Male Representations
English 782: Seminar: Reader-Response Criticism
English 782: Seminar: Gender Studies
English 782: Seminar: Gender and Visual Representation
English 782: Seminar: Film Theory
English 782: Seminar: Queer Theory in the 21st
Century
Graduate Student Committees:
Master's Thesis/MFA Thesis Committees, Member: 15
Master's Thesis Committees, Chair: 2
Dissertation Committees, Member: 60
Dissertation Committees, Chair: 5
Courses Designed:
English 288: Representations of Sexual Diversity in
Literature and Film
English 382: Contemporary Literary Criticism
English 782: Seminar in Critical Theory
SERVICE:
Service to the Profession:
Member, Delegate Assembly, Modern Language
Association, 1993-1996.
Member, Editorial Board, Cercles,
1990-1994
Member, Administrative Board, Victorian Poetry,
1983-1984
Manuscripts Reviewed For: PMLA, Cultural
Critique, SAR, Columbia UP, SUNY UP, Iowa UP, Ohio State University
Press, Houghton Mifflin, Longman
Last Updated: August 10, 2010