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Michael A. Bryson, PhD Associate Professor of Humanities Department of Professional and Liberal Studies Evelyn T. Stone College of Professional Studies Roosevelt University My academic background is in literature and biology; currently, my research focuses on the environmental and literary history of the Chicago region, as well as city-based nature writing and the evolving notion of "urban wilderness." More generally, my interests include the study of literature's relationship to science and nature; nature writing and popular science; urban ecology and environmental writing, especially of the Chicago region; the history and literature of scientific exploration, particularly in the Great Lakes states, the American West, and Antarctica; environmental and scientific history; travel literature; and 19th and 20th century American literature. Recent projects include "Empty Lots and Secret Places," a scholarly article exploring the life and work of Chicago journalist, naturalist, and urban nature writer Leonard Dubkin (1905-1972) forthcoming in the journal ISLE; and "Unearthing Urban Nature," a scholarly essay on scientist-writer Loren Eiseley's investigations and representations of urban and suburban landscapes, forthcoming in the volume Artifacts and Illuminations (Univ of Nebraska Press). These essays are parts of a larger research project, Mapping the Urban Wilderness, that focuses on the environmental history and literature of the Chicago region. The proposal for this project sketches out a long-term research agenda that likely will keep me out of trouble for several years. In March of 2007 I presented some preliminary ideas about the evolving phenomenon of "Chicago Wilderness" at Northeastern Illinois University's Wild Things conference. Among my scholarly writings is the book Visions of the Land: Science, Literature, and the American Environment from the Era of Exploration to the Age of Ecology, an ecocritical study of several American scientist-writers, including John Charles Fremont, Susan Fenimore Cooper, John Wesley Powell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Richard Byrd, Rachel Carson, and Loren Eiseley. Published in July 2002, the book is available from the University of Virginia Press as part of their series, "Under the Sign of Nature: Explorations in Ecocriticism." Online reviews of Visions of the Land include:
For more information on my research and writing, as well as links to selected articles and presentations, please see my online vita. |
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