Ian Afflerbach, Ph.D.
![Ian Afflerbach](/_shared/images/photounavailable-gray.jpg)
Area(s) of Expertise: American Literature since 1865, Anglophone Modernism, African-American Literature, Literary and Critical Theory
Overview
Ian Afflerbach is an Associate Professor of American Literature at the University of North Georgia. He teaches and researches modern American fiction, African American Literature, political theory, pulp periodicals, and the history of ideas. His first book, Making Liberalism New, examines the rise and fall of liberalism in the U.S. through major American fiction. His current book project, "Sellouts! The History of an American Insult" examines the figure of the "sellout" in American culture, exploring the forms of betrayal or misrepresentation that have cause so many communities to accuse one of their own of "selling out." His articles have appeared in PMLA, Novel, ELH, Modernism/modernity, Studies in the Novel, Modern Fiction Studies, and more.
Courses Taught
- ENGL 1101/2: Composition (Topic: Science Fiction)
- ENGL 2143: African-American Literature
- ENGL 2160: Multicultural American Literature
- ENGL 2132: American Literature II (Popular American Fiction)
- ENGL 3240: The Short Story
- ENGL 3675/6675: American Modernism
- ENGL 4140/6140: Literary Criticism (Marx, Nietzsche, Freud)
- ENGL 4810/ENGL 6810: Seeing Race in Lit, Law, and Film
- ENGL2900: Introduction to Literary Studies
- ENGL4652: American Science Fiction
Education
- Ph.D., English, University of California, Davis, 2016
- B.A., English and Political Science, Wake Forest University, 2009
Research/Special Interests
- 20th century American literature and politics
- Modernism and modernist studies
- American periodical culture
- Liberalism and the history of ideas
Publications
Books
Making Liberalism New: American Intellectuals, Modern Literature, and the Rewriting of a Political Tradition. Johns Hopkins UP, 2021. Finalist, Modernist Studies Association First Book Prize. Reviews: American Literary History, The Modernist Review; The New Rambler.
“Sellouts! The History of an American Insult” [manuscript in progress]
Recent Journal Articles
“Carl Schmitt in Outer Space: on Cixin Liu’s ‘Dark Forest’.” NOVEL 56.2 (August 2023): 163-185. “On the Literary History of Selling Out: Craft, Identity and Commercial Recognition.” PMLA 137.2 (March 2022): 230-45.
“The American Fear of Literature: Sinclair Lewis, Satire, and the Noble Prize.” Letteratura d’America (The Nobel Prize and US Literature, Special Issue) 42.189 (2022): 5-26. “From Obama’s Presidency to Beatty’s Booker Prize: On the Notion of the ‘Racial Sellout.’” African American Review 54.3 (2021): 219-32.
Work Experience
- Instructor, University of California Davis. 2009-2016
- Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology. 2016-2017
- Visiting Fellow, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, 2013-14