Sheldon George teaches courses in both literature and theory. Concentrating primarily on American and African-American literature, his courses explore literary representations of American identity, as they are expressed in the writings of authors spanning from antebellum to contemporary America. His literary and cultural theory courses are aimed at granting students more nuanced and complex understandings of the interplay between literature, culture and identity. With a particular focus on psychoanalytic theory, Professor George's research and published work use Lacanian psychoanalysis to investigate the effects of slavery and racism on American racial identity. Some of his courses include Critical Interpretation, Toni Morrison and American Literature, Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, Race and Gender in Psychoanalytic Theory.                                                                                                                                                                                                      

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

"The Performed Self in College Writing:  From Personal Narratives to Argumentative and Research Essays."  Pedagogy 12.2.  Forthcoming. 

 

"Approaching the Thing of Slavery:  A Lacanian Analysis of Toni Morrison's Beloved."  African American Review 44.3.  Forthcoming.

 

"Realism's Racial Gaze and Stephen Crane's The Monster:  A Lacanian Reading."  Experiments in/of Realism:  Spec. issue of Synthesis 3 (Winter 2011): 69-86. http://www.enl.uoa.gr/synthesis/issue3.htm

 

 

Book Review

Freud Upside Down:  African American Literature and Psychoanalytic Culture, by Badia Sahar Ahad.  Symploke 19:2.  Forthcoming.

 

 

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

"Morrison's Artistry and the Decentered Narrative."  Invited Response to Jean Wyatt's talk:  "Jean Laplanche and Toni Morrison: Enigmatic Signifying in Morrison's Love and A Mercy."  The Humanities Center at Harvard University, March 2011.

 

"Intergenerational Trauma and African-American Identity:  Rereading Ellison through Hamlet."  Psychoanalysis and Social Justice conference.  Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society.  New Brunswick, New Jersey:  Rutgers University, October 2010.

 

"Performative Identities and the Embellished Text:  From Personal Narratives to Argumentative Essays."  Northeastern Modern Language Association conference.  Montreal, Quebec:  Mc Gill University, April 2010.

 

"The Trauma of the Real:  Reading Caruth and Leys Against Lacan."  Trauma: Intersections among Narrative, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis conference.  Washington, D.C.:  The George Washington University, March 2010.