Academic Positions

2022 - present Teaching Faculty, College of Engineering, UW-Madison

2022-2023 Associate Professor, Program in Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas, Bilkent University

2014 - 2022 Assistant Professor, Program in Cultures, Civilizations, and Ideas, Bilkent University

2017-2019 Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Uses of Literature, University of Southern Denmark

Education

2014 Ph.D. in English. The Johns Hopkins University

2011 School of Criticism and Theory. Cornell University

2007 M.A. in Philosophy. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

2004 B.A. in English and Philosophy. East Tennessee State University

Publications

Reading Ideas in Victorian Literature: Literary Content as Artistic Experience (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020).

Articles

  1. “What is a Parable? Content, Form, and the History of Ideas in ‘Bartleby, The Scrivener.’” Revise/Resubmit from Modern Language Quarterly.

  2. “Literature, Economics, and A Turn to Content.” With Bryan Yazell. Forthcoming in The Minnesota Review.

  3. “Literature and the New Liberalism: Positive Freedom and Aesthetic Form.” Forthcoming in Literature Compass.

  4. "The fragility of rationality: George Eliot on akrasia and the law of consequences.” The British Journal for the History of Philosophy (2020).

  5. “Honesty and Inquiry: W.K. Clifford’s Ethics of Belief.” The British Journal for the History of Philosophy 28.4 (2020): 797-818.

  6. “The Varieties of Self-Realization: Art, Work and the Self in Late-Victorian Literature.” Modern Philology 117.4 (2020): 515-539

  7. “Sympathy, Vocation, and Moral Deliberation in George Eliot.” English Literary History 85.2 (Summer 2018): 501-532.

  8. “The Gospel of Work: An Annotated Bibliography.” Oxford Bibliographies in Victorian Literature. Ed. Juliet John. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.

  9. “A Washy Draught and a Husky Morsel: Feeling, Judgment, and the Autonomous Self in Jane Eyre.” Victorians: A Journal of Culture and Literature (Fall 2016): 1-15.

  10. “Anthony Trollope on Akrasia, Self-Deception, and Ethical Confusion.” Victorian Studies 56.4 (Summer 2014): 649-674.

  11. “In Defense of Paraphrase.” New Literary History 44.1 (January 2013): 117-139.

  12. “Jane Austen on Love and Pedagogical Power.” Studies in English Literature 51.4 (November 2011): 747-763.

  13. "Freedom, Self-Obligation, and Selfhood in Henry James.” Nineteenth Century Literature 66.1 (June 2011): 69-95.

Book Chapters

  1. “Mind the Gap: Social Science and Its Uses of Literature.” With Klaus Petersen and Bryan Yazell. The Uses of Literature. Ed Anne-Marie Mai. Forthcoming.

  2. “Autonomy, Divinity, and the Common Good: Selflessness as a Source of Freedom in Thomas Hill Green and Mary Augusta Ward.” Women Philosophers on Autonomy (New York: Routledge, 2018).

  3. “He Had Taught Himself to Think: Anthony Trollope on Self-Control in Knowledge and Belief.” The Edinburgh Companion to Anthony Trollope (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2018).

Essays in the Public Sphere

  1. What's The Point of Literary Criticism? EUP Blog. July 2020.

  2. “Getting Past Form”, Aesthetics for Birds. March 2020.

  3. “A Simple Proposal for Ending The Jobs Crisis.” Academe. May 2019.

  4. Review of Lev Grossman, The Magician’s Land. MAKE Literary Magazine. MAKE Literary Productions, NFP. May 2015.

  5. “Critique: The History of a Premise.” Essay for colloquium, “We, Reading, Now” at the Stanford Arcade. March 2015.

  6. Review of Brandon Sanderson, Words of Radiance. MAKE Literary Magazine. MAKE Literary Productions, NFP. 29 April 2014.

  7. “Does Reading Really Make Us Better People? Some Questions On Ethics and Literature.” Changing Lives Through Literature. University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. February 2009.

Book Reviews

  1. Stefanie Markovits, The Victorian Verse-Novel: Aspiring to Life. Victorian Studies. Forthcoming 2019.

  2. Daniel Wright, Bad Logic: Reasoning About Desire in The Victorian Novel. Review of English Studies. Forthcoming.

  3. Gary Saul Morson and Morton Owen Schapiro, Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn From The Humanities. Textual Practice (2018) 32.10: 1770-1775.

  4. Gage McWeeny, The Comfort of Strangers. Victorian Studies 59.4 (Summer 2017): 708- 710.

  5. Daniel Albright, Panaesthetics. MAKE Literary Magazine. MAKE Literary Productions, NFP. May 2015.

  6. “How Can You Tell an Allegory When You See One? A Review of Gary Johnson, The Vitality of Allegory.” Diegesis 3.2 (December 2014): n. pag. 7. December 2014.

  7. Sarah Raff, Jane Austen’s Erotic Advice. Review 19. Dartmouth College. 24 September 2014.

  8. Franco Moretti, Distant Reading. MAKE Literary Magazine. MAKE Literary Productions, NFP. 6 June 2014.

  9. “Why Books Can Be Good For You: A Review of Joshua Landy, How To Do Things With Fictions.” Journal of Literary Theory. De Gruyter Publishing House. 27 March 2013.

  10. Leona Toker, Towards the Ethics of Form in Fiction: Narratives of Cultural Remission. Modern Language Notes 127.5 (December 2012): 1271-1274.

  11. Branka Arsić, On Leaving: A Reading in Emerson. Review 19. Dartmouth College. 12 April 2011.

  12. Avrom Fleishman, George Eliot’s Intellectual Life. Review 19. Dartmouth College. 29 November 2010.

Presentations

Invited Lectures

  1. “The Uses of Literature in the Social Sciences.” With Bryan Yazell. Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen. 13 November. 2019.

  2. “George Eliot’s Critique of Utilitarianism.” George Eliot and Philosophy Symposium, University of Warwick. 6 December 2019.

  3. “What Do You Have To Do To Get Read Philosophically? On Wollstonecraft and Philosophical Readings of the History of Philosophy.” The Contribution of Mary Wollstonecraft to Contemporary Issues in Philosophy, Bilkent University. May 2017.

  4. “On the Profound.” Centre for Uses of Literature, Southern Denmark University. March 2017.

  5. “Sympathy and Self-Constitution: George Eliot on Autonomy.” Women Philosophers on Autonomy, Yeditepe University. 5 May 2016.

  6. “He Had Taught Himself to Think: Anthony Trollope on Self-Control in Knowledge and Belief.” Trollope Bicentennial Conference, Leuven. September 2015.

Conference Presentations

  1. “Artistic Success as a Philosophical Achievement: Beauvoir on Realist Parable.” Simone de Beauvoir Society. Modern Language Association, Seattle.

  2. “Aesthetic Skepticism and Aesthetic Pluralism.” Methods of Reading, 17 June 2019, Bilkent University. Conference Organizer.

  3. “Formalism as an Attitude.” The Limits of Form: Reading for the Ideas. Modern Language Association, Chicago. Panel Organizer.

  4. “Aestheticism and the Birth of the Consultant.” William Morris: Reflections on Art and Labor. Modern Language Association, Chicago.

  5. “The Possibility of a Scientific Ethics.” North American Victorian Studies Association, St. Petersburg.

  6. "What is the scourge of the unwilling? The role of the family in the 1870s debate on the foundations of ethics." Family, Memory, Identity. Aarhus University.

  7. “Literature in a Time of War: The Humanities in an Age of Global Conflict.” World Literature/Global Core Texts, Singapore University of Technology and Design. Funded participant.

  8. “Integrities, Ethical and Otherwise.” 21st Century Theories of Literature: Ethics, Tropes, Attunement. Warwick University. Funded participant.

  9. “George Meredith on Egoism: Two Interpretations.” George Meredith and His Circle, Bishop Grosseteste University.

  10. “Justifying Anachronism.” New Literary History Workshop: “Post-Critical Interpretation.” Received competitive travel grant.

  11. “Communitarianism and Cosmopolitanism: Victorian Networks of Ethical Recognition.” North American Victorian Studies Association, Madison. Received competitive travel grant.

Campus Presentations

  1. “The History of Philosophy is Neither History Nor Philosophy: It’s Literary Criticism.” Institute for History, Southern Denmark University.

  2. “The ITCO Pattern.” Uses of Literature Publication Workshop, Southern Denmark University.

  3. “George Eliot on Vocation and Moral Deliberation.” World Philosophy Day, Bilkent University

  4. “Academic Writing as a Formal Structure: The Outlines of a Genre.” Writing Matters Colloquium, Bilkent University

  5. “The Challenge of Aesthetic Skepticism and the Importance of Being Profound.” CCI Colloquium Series, Bilkent University

  6. “E.M. Forster’s Moral Muddles.” Difficulty, Intransigence, Failure, Johns Hopkins University.

  7. “On Freedom of the Will and Determination by Culture: Michel Foucault and Harry Frankfurt.” Eaton E. Lattman Seminar Series. Johns Hopkins University

Honors and Awards

  1. Honors Seminar, Bilkent CCI (2016)

  2. Graduate Tutor of the Year – Johns Hopkins University Writing Center (2013)

  3. Ralph W. Cohen Prize, for “In Defense of Paraphrase.” New Literary History (2012)

  4. Graduate Student Travel Grant – NAVSA (2012)

  5. Dean's Teaching Fellowship – Johns Hopkins University (2011)

  6. English Institute Travel Stipend – The English Institute at Harvard (2010)

  7. Allen Grossman Teaching Fellowship – Johns Hopkins University (2009)

  8. Owen Fellowship – Johns Hopkins English Department (2007)

Teaching Experience

Assistant Professor, Bilkent University

  • “Work and the Meaning of Life.” Honors Seminar, Fall 2016

  • “Introduction to the Humanities, I” Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Spring 2017. 3 sections. “Introduction to the Humanities, II” Spring 2015, Spring 2016: 3 sections. Fall 2016, Summer 2019: 2 sections

Graduate Student Instructor, Johns Hopkins University

  • “Victorian Poetry,” Spring 2014

  • “Moral Insanity: Self-Control in Victorian Psychology, Philosophy, and Fiction,” Spring 2013

  • “J.R.R. Tolkien and the Contemporary Fantasy Epic,” Fall 2012

  • “Moral Philosophy and the Novel in 19th-Century England,” Fall 2011

  • "Freedom and the Self," Fall 2009, Spring 2010. Expository Writing Course.

Summer and January Courses

  • “The Real Jungle-Book: Imperial Kipling,” Intersession 2014

  • “J.R.R. Tolkien,” Intersession 2013

  • “Jane Austen and Film,” Summer 2012

  • “Revolutionary Ink: Poe and Mencken,” Intersession 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Center for Talented Youth (CTY) Instructor.

  • “Creative Nonfiction,” Summer 2014

  • “The Critical Essay: Literature and the Arts,” Summer 2013

Graduate Student Instructor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

  • “Introduction to Philosophy: God, Metaphysics, and Value.” Fall 2005-Spring 2007.

  • Introduction to Philosophy,” Fall 2004 and Spring 2005

Work Experience and Professional Service

WORK EXPERIENCE

2009-2014 Writing Tutor, JHU Writing Center

2012 Research Assistant for Douglas Mao

2008-2010 Dean of Residential Life for CTY Summer Programs

2006 Technical Diploma in Appliance Repair. The Milwaukee Area Technical College

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Referee for Victorian Studies, Modern Philology, and J19

Webmaster for Bilkent CCI

JHU Graduate Representative Organization (GRO) Financial Concerns Chair

Graduate Student Representative, Search Committee for JHU Vice Provost for Student Affairs.

Organizer, Johns Hopkins Fantasy Fiction Writing Workshop.

Languages

Turkish (B2), German (B2), Spanish (B1), French (A2)

Areas of Specialization and Competence

Specialization: Victorian Literature, Nineteenth-Century History of Ideas, Philosophy and Literature

Competence: Anglophone Literature, Nineteenth-Century American Literature, History and Theory of the Novel, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Art