Expertise

Edgar Allan Poe, Rhetorical Analyses, Science and Literature

Biography

John A. Dern earned his Ph.D. in English from Lehigh University. A teacher since 1991, he received the 2009 Violet B. Ketels Award for teaching and service from the Intellectual Heritage Program, as well as the 2017 College of Liberal Arts Teaching/Instructional Faculty Award. He has published one book, Martians, Monsters and Madonna: Fiction and Form in the World of Martin Amis, and essays on a variety of subjects in journals such as The Edgar Allan Poe Review, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, Literature/Film Quarterly, Pennsylvania English and The Radio Journal. He has also published pedagogical articles in The Teaching Professor newsletter.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Publications

• "Critical Moments: How Focusing on Individual Words Can Lead to Learning." The Teaching Professor (online), 11 Oct. 2021.
• "Deadly Sins: 'The Black Cat' as a Macabre Retelling of Genesis 1-4." The Edgar Allan Poe Review 21.1 (2020): 1-22.
• "Need to Foster Participation? Try a Ranking Game!" The Teaching Professor (online), 12. Aug. 2019.
• "A Problem in Detection: The Rhetoric of Murder in Poe's 'The Black Cat." The Edgar Allan Poe Review 18.2 (2017): 163-182.
• "A More Organic Approach to Encouraging Students to Use the Dictionary." The Teaching Professor 31.7 (2017): 7.
• "Iron Poe: 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue' in Story and Song." The Edgar Allan Poe Review 16.1 (2015): 70-82.
• Avoiding Information Overload: Remembering Course Goals." The Teaching Professor 26.8 (2012): 1.
• "Beyond Vaccination: Edward Jenner and the Problem of Contingency." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 14.2 (2012): 164-79.
• "The Third Man and the Third Medium: Radio and the Characterization of Harry Lime." The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 2.3 (2004): 171-86.
• "'Sin without God': Existentialism and The Trial." Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 5.2 (2004): 94-109.

Courses Taught

• Intellectual Heritage I: The Good Life
• Intellectual Heritage II: The Common Good.
• Honors Intellectual Heritage I: The Good Life
• Honors Intellectual Heritage II: The Common Good