David Wayne Thomas
Associate Professor
Specialty
Nineteenth-century British literature, critical theory
Degrees
B.A., University of North Dakota; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Profile
David Wayne Thomas explores intersections of Victorian literature and social theory. His book, Cultivating Victorians: Liberal Culture and the Aesthetic, shows how aesthetic theory during and after the Victorian period took up ideas of individual agency developed within Victorian liberalism. His current research focuses on literary works that engage themes of law, legal administration, and liberal reformism in imperial settings, especially in British India. He has published articles on varied aspects of literary and cultural theory, with topics including: decadence; verbal musicality (ekphrasis); replica paintings in British art; and postmodernist engagements with the mathematical work of Kurt Godel. He is also co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Nineteenth-Century Contexts.
Publications
Cultivating Victorians: Liberal Culture and the Aesthetic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
Contact Information
356 O'Shaughnessy Hall
(574) 631-7122
Thomas.205@nd.edu