 | Meredith NeumanAssistant Professor of English |
B.A, University of Chicago, 1989 Brief BiographyProfessor Neuman teaches and researches in the fields of early and nineteenth-century American literature. In her current book project, Letter and Spirit: Literary Theories of the Sermon in Puritan New England, she seeks to uncover complex, often competing theories of language evident in sermons and sermon related literature such as the conversion narrative. She is currently working on John Dane’s manuscript "commonplace book" and his verse conversion narrative, a follow-up to her recent article in Early American Literature on narrative strategies in the prose version of that spiritual relation. Professor Neuman’s interest in techniques for preserving the spontaneity and authenticity of ephemeral experience leads her to a diversity of topics, including seventeenth-century transatlantic poetry, American science writing, redemption themes in contemporary true crime cinema, and fundamentalism as a literary problem. Professor Neuman encourages her students, especially in seminars, to explore opportunities for original research at Worcester’s own American Antiquarian Society. She teaches courses in Major American Writers (pre-Civil War), early American literature and the American Renaissance. Current Research and TeachingSelected Publications |