Douglass H.
Thomson
Professor of English
Department of Literature and
Philosophy
P.O
Box. 8023
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460-8023
Newton 1122C x681-5579; dhthom@georgiasouthern.edu
Go here to find
current syllabi . . . Go to the Humanities I and II
website . . . Go here
to Gothic web pages . . . For general student resources, go to Glossary of Literary
Terms, The Major
Greek Gods and Myths, and The Philosophy of
Composition (strategies for writing about literature) . . . For Thomson's
publications, go here
CURRICULUM VITAE
EDUCATION
1983 Postdoctoral study at the
1981 Ph.D. in English, the University of
Dissertation : "Beyond Soliloquy: A Study of
Wordsworth's Conversation Poetry." Directed by James Rieger
1976 M.A. in English, the
1975 B.A. in English, the
RESEARCH INTERESTS
British Romanticism; Literary Gothic; History of Literary Criticism
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
- 2000- . Professor, Department of
Literature and Philosophy.
- 1989-2000 .
Associate Professor. Department of Literature and Philosophy.
- 1981-1989. Assistant Professor. Department of
English.
- 1980-1981. Visiting
Assistant Professor.
PUBLICATIONS (peer-reviewed unless
otherwise noted)
|
Accepted,
awaiting publication: Encyclopedia entries (1000 words each) for Gottfried August
Bürger and the Sturm und Drang
movement. Blackwell Encyclopaedia of the
Gothic. Ed. David Punter. Web and Print (forthcoming 2012). Print [Invited]
Assigned to write entries on Anna Lætitia Aikin Barbauld, Lucy Aikin, Arthur Aikin, and Joseph Johnson for the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. Working on a critical edition of John Aikin’s Poems (1791).
“The
Gothic Ballad 1790-1805.” The New
Companion to the Gothic. Ed.
David Punter. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell,
2012: 77-90. Print.
“Introduction”
to The Noble Enthusiast: A Modern Romance
by Maria Grace Andrews Saffery. Nonconformist
Women Writers 1720-1840. Volume 7. Ed. Timothy Whelan.
With
Timothy Whelan. A critical edition of The
Noble Enthusiast: A Modern Romance by Maria Grace Andrews Saffery. Nonconformist Women Writers 1720-1840.
Volume 7. Ed. Timothy Whelan.
“Dread
and Decorum in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan
Strange and Mr. Norrell.” Twenty-First
Century Gothic. Ed. Danel Olsen. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010:
319-327. Print. [Invited]
“A
Note on One of the Earliest Gothic Ballads: Frank Sayers’ ‘Sir Egwin.’” Papers on Language and Literature. 46:2 (2010): 194-229.
Print
Matthew Gregory Lewis. Tales of Wonder. Ed. Douglass H. Thomson. Broadview Press, 2009. Print
“Facts Sheet.” The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Volume 2A (The Romantics). Ed. Susan Wolfson and Peter Manning. New York: Longman, 2010. Print
“John Aikin.” Dictionary of Unitarian
and Universalist Biography (2009). Web
On-line critical editions of three parodies of M.G. Lewis’s Tales of Wonder: Voller, Jack G. The Literary Gothic. 28 March 2009. Web.
--Dermody, Thomas [originally published under the pseudonym “Mauritius Moonshine”]. More Wonders! (London: Barker, 1801).
http://www.litgothic.com/Authors/dermody.html
--Smith, Horace. “Fire and Ale.” Rejected Addresses, or the New Theatrum Poetarum (London: John Miller,1812; Edinburgh: John Ballantyne, 1812).
http://www.litgothic.com/Authors/hsmith.html
--Watson-Taylor, George. “The Old Hag in a Red Cloak.” The School for Satire: or, A Collection of Modern Satirical Pieces Written During the
Present Reign (London: Jaques and Co., 1802). http://www.litgothic.com/Authors/watson-taylor.html
“Mingled Measures: Gothic Parody in Tales of Wonder and Tales of Terror.” Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net Issue 50. (May 2008). n. pag. Web.
http://www.erudit.org/revue/ravon/2008/v/n50/018143ar.html?lang=en
Electronic edition of
Walter Scott’s An
Apology for Tales of Terror (1799). The Walter Scott Digital
Archive. University
of Edinburgh, 2008. Web.
Entries on ophia Lee, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Print.
“Gothic Fiction." The Greenwood
Guide to American Popular Culture. Ed.
Dennis Hall and M. Thomas Inge.
Gothic
Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide. Co-edited
with Jack Voller and Frederick S. Frank.
"The Work of Art in the Age of Electronic (Re)Production." Romanticism On the Net 10 (May 1998). Web.
"Terror High and Low: The Aikins' 'On the Pleasure Derived From Objects of Terror.'" The Wordsworth Circle 29 (1998): 72-75. Print.
"Coming
to Terms: Plato's Cratylus in the Light of
Postmodernism." Plato and Postmodernism.
Ed. Steven Shankman.
"William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism." Humanities in the South 13 (1988): 6-9.
"Rhetoric Meets Philosphy: The Place of Description in Literary Criticism." Philosophy and Rhetoric 21 (1988): 77-102.
"'The Sport of Transmutations': The Evolution of Wordsworth's 'To Lycoris.'" Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 27 (1987): 581-593.
"The Passing of Another's Shadow: A Third Ending to Great Expectations." Dickens Quarterly 1 (1984): 94-95.
"From Words to Things: Margaret's Progress in Howards End." Studies in the Novel 15 (1983): 122-134.
"Wordsworth's
Warning Voice: A Miltonic Echo in Book II of The
Prelude." The
"Wordsworth's
Lucy of 'Nutting.'" Studies in Romanticism 18 (1979):
287-298.
REVIEWS
- Romanticism and the Gothic
by Michael Gamer.
- A Companion to the
Gothic. Ed. David Punter.
- Pleasure in the Eighteenth
Century. Ed. Roy Porter and Marie Mulvey-Roberts.
NYU Press, 1997. The
- Romanticism and the Androgynous
Sublime by Warren Stevenson. Fairleigh Dickinson U Press, 1996. The
ONGOING PROJECTS
- Ongoing: Romantic Readings of the Gothic An annotated list of the Gothic reading of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, the Shelleys, and Keats, with more figures from the period to follow. This site appears on (has been linked to by) Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net (U Montreal), Voice of the Shuttle (UC Santa Barbara), and The Literary Gothic Page (Southern Illinois University), among many others.
- Glossary of Literary Gothic Terms
LECTURES AND PAPERS DELIVERED TO PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (since 1986)
- "Teaching
in the Age of Electronic (Re)Production."
Computers and the Curriculum Conference.
- "The Aikins' Idea of the Sublime." Wordsworth Summer
Conference,
- "The
Politics of Wordsworth's Anti-Gothicism." Wordsworth Summer
Conference,
- "Coming
to Terms: Plato's Cratylus in the Light
of Postmodernism." Plato and Postmodernism Conference,
- "Paradoxes
in the Age of English Romanticism." Guest Lecturer for
- Invited
Respondent to Romantics Session of the Western Conference for British
Studies.
- "Developing Public Programs for 'Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism.'" Romanticism and Us Conference. University of Illinois-Chicago. 23 April 1988.
- “English
Romantic Poetry and the Spirit of Music." Outreach Programs for
NEH/GEH's "William Wordsworth and the Age of English
Romanticism." 15 January 1988 (Bulloch Hall of the
- "But
for Such Faith: The Moral Force of Romantic Ambiguity." Romantics
Session of SAMLA,
MASTERS THESES DIRECTED
- 2011: Erin Waddell. A critical edition
of M.G. Lewis’s Oberon’s Henchman
- 2007: Jeffrey Kozee. The Dangers of Credulity: Mary Robinson’s The Trope of Victimization
- 2000: Anne Elizabeth Carson. Traversing the "Bright Labirinth": The Evolution of Mary Darby Robinson's Poetry.
- 1998: Tina Bandy. Hazlitt Against Coleridge: A Study in the Anxiety of Influence
- 1996: Kathryn Smith. A
Feminist
- 1995: John Kluttz. The Art of Forgiveness: Blake's Reading of Dante.
- 1995: Wade Kreuger. "Thought's Eternal Flight": The Evolution of Shelley's Representations of the Wandering Jew.
- 1995: Ray P. Murphy. Opening the Doors of Perception: A Comparative Study of William Blake and Thomas Merton.
- 1994: Rhonda Lee Brock. Contemporary Gothicism: Straub's Shadowlands.
- 1992: Devan
Cook.
I have also served as a reader or member of the committee for over 20 other theses.
WEB PROJECTS DESIGNED TO ENHANCE CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
- Glossary of
Literary Terms
- The Major Greek Gods and Myths
- Philosophy of Composition (strategies for writing about literature)
- Humanities I and II website (contains over 20 sub-directories created specifically for the course)
- Bibliography and
Methods of Research for Literary Studies
- Resources for the
Study of Gothic Literature
SERVICE TO THE STATE
- Director of NEH/GEH Project "William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism" for the State of Georgia, 1986-1989. Managed $15,000 grant from GEH and coordinated university and statewide programs of the exhibit, recitals, and lecture series. Cited as a model program by Humanities, publication of the National Endowment of the Humanities, vol. 8 (1987): 16.
SERVICE TO THE INSTITUTION (since 1990)
University:
· working
with Greg Roell, director of the M.A. program in
history, to develop a “Summer Institute in American Studies”
in conjunction with other CLASS departments, scheduled to fit calendars of
public school and of international students, and recruit students from
member, CLASS Dean’s Faculty Advisory Council (2005-2007)
· created and teach with Greg Harwood (Music) and Roy Sonema (Art) the new Area C core classes Humanities I and II
· Chair of the Humanities Division Subcommittee for the University Assessment Taskforce, 1992-94. Determined General Education Outcomes for Area I (now C) of the Core.
· member of the Task Force on reorganization of the Department of English, 1997-98.
· secretary, Computers and Curriculum committee, 1994-1998
· department representative for "A Day for Southern" (1997)
· member of the Teacher Education committee, 1990-1991
· member, the Humanities Forum
Department:
· Director of Graduate Studies in English (2004- )
· member, ad hoc committee addressing policies for on-line and remote teaching and various other department committees
· Chair, Committee on revising the department "Manual," a handbook of departmental policies, tenure and promotion criteria, and governance procedures. 2003-2004.
· Chair, Search for Shakespeare / Renaissance Drama position. 2000-2001.
· Department's Y2K representative.1999-2000
· Pagemaster: Created and maintained Literature & Philosophy homepage, which includes such pages as the Center for Irish Studies site, the World Literature page, the Greek Mythology site and many others of my design. 1996-1999
· Chair, Committee on revising the new department "Manual," a handbook of departmental policies, tenure and promotion criteria, and governance procedures. 1998-1999.
· Member, Task Force for the reorganization of the Department of English (1996-98)
· Chair of the General Program Committee (World Literature classes). 1996-2001
· Chair of the committee overseeing semester conversion in Area C of the Core. Made the case for the continuing requirement of a World Literature class in the core. 1996-97
· Chair of the Library Committee, 1982-97.
· Member of the Graduate committee, 1987-
· Chair of the subcommittee for revising M.A. requirements. 1995-96.
· Member, Major Program committee, 1990-96.
· Chair, commitee on Workload. Compiled and submitted to the Dean data on the unique workload of the Department of English. 1994-95.
· Chair, Search for Contemporary Poetry position. 1990
· Advisor for English undergraduate and graduate majors
AWARDS, HONORS
· Received Educational Leave for research
activity, Spring 2001.
· Received $500 grant from Faculty Development and Welfare to develop a slide series to accompany World Literature classes (1982)
· Received $1500 grant from Faculty
Development and Welfare to attend the
· Fellow,
· Recieved and managed $15,000 grant from GEH for "Romanticism and Its Legacy" (1987-88)
· Nominated for Teacher of the Year (1986)
· Bell Honors Teacher: Senior Colloquium
(1984-88); Honors 131, The Human Dawn (1989-1998)
I have also received and been grateful for various reassigned-times for
research and, most recently, for development of the new Humanities sequence.
MEMBERSHIPS
· Friend of Dove Cottage
· member, the Wordsworth-Coleridge
Society and the International Gothic Association