Title: William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor and Chair, Department of English

Department: English

Office: 332 Benson
Phone: 615-322-2542
Fax: 615-343-8028
Email: jay.clayton@vanderbilt.edu

Degrees

B.A., Yale University
Ph.D., University of Virginia

Research Area

Victorian literature
Genetics and literature
Digital technology and online narratives
Contemporary fiction

Current Courses

ENGL 243, Literature Science and Technology. Topic: Genetics in Literature and Film (MWF 10:10), Calhoun 203

Professional Honors

Suzanne M. Glasscock Humanities Book Prize for Interdisciplinary Scholarship for Charles Dickens in Cyberspace (2005)
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1999-2000)
President, Society for the Study of Narrative Literature (1995)
Choice's "An Outstanding Academic Book" for The Pleasures of Babel
Afirmative Action Award, Vanderbilt University (1995)
Robert A. Partlow Award, The Dickens Society, for Romantic Vision and the Novel (1989)
Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Wisconsin (1986)
ACLS Fellowship (1981-82)

Publications

BOOKS
Charles Dickens in Cyberspace: The Afterlife of the Nineteenth Century in Postmodern Culture (Oxford University Press, 2003)
The Pleasures of Babel: Contemporary American Literature and Theory (Oxford University Press, 1993)
Romantic Vision and the Novel (Cambridge University Press, 1987)
EDITED VOLUMES
Time and the Literary. Ed. with Karen Newman and Marianne Hirsch. (Routledge, 2002)
Influence and Intertextuality in Literary History. Ed. with Eric Rothstein. (University of Wisonsin Press, 1991)
SELECTED ARTICLES
"Victorian Chimeras, or, What Literature Can Contribute to Genetics Policy Today," New Literary History
"Frankenstein's Futurity: Clones, Replicants, and Robots" in The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley
"Convergence of the Two Cultures: A Geek’s Guide to Contemporary Literature,” American Literature
"The Voice in the Machine: Hazlitt, Hardy, James" in Language Machines: Technologies of Literary and Cultural Production
"Genome Time" in Time and the Literary
"Concealed Circuits: Frankenstein's Monster, the Medusa, and the Cyborg," Raritan
"Narrative and Theories of Desire," Critical Inquiry
"The Narrative Turn in Recent Minority Fiction," American Literary History

Biography

Jay Clayton received his B.A. from Yale University and his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Before coming to Vanderbilt, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he received the Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award. At Vanderbilt, he teaches courses in contemporary American literature; genetics in literature, film, and media; Victorian fiction; hypermedia and online gaming; and literary theory.

His current research involves the ethical and social issues raised by genetics as they appear in literature and films. He has lectured on genetics and literature at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH, the English Institute, the MLA, the Narrative Society, Society for Literature and Science, and medical schools around the country.