Ryan Slesinger
Teaching Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Tulsa
MA, University of Oklahoma
BA, University of Oklahoma
Areas of Interest & Expertise
American Literature & Culture
Mysticism & Modernity
Multiculturalism
Deep Ecology, Ecocriticism & the Anthropocene
Recent Courses Taught
3000 Level
American Road Stories (Cross-listed with American Studies).
2000 Level
Survey of American Literature II (The Romantic Period to the Present).
Survey of American Literature I (Beginnings through the Romantic Period).
Race, Borders, and Intersectional Identities in America (Honors).
The Gothic South (Honors).
Wizards in Contemporary Literature (Honors).
Conversations in Literature.
1000 Level
Literature, Music, and Film of the 1960’s Counterculture (Honors).
Perspectives on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Honors).
Perspective in Artistic Eras: Romanticism through Postmodernism (Honors).
English Composition II
English Composition I
Selected Publications
“Teaching the Grateful Dead and Happening Pedagogy.” Teaching (with) the Grateful Dead, special issue of Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. February, 2022 (Forthcoming).
“John Steinbeck’s To a God Unknown: The Clearing Cycle & the Monterey Metaphysics of Ricketts, Steinbeck, and Campbell.” The Steinbeck Review, vol. 17, no. 2, Penn State UP, 2020.
“And Closed My Eyes To See: Buddhist Resonances in the Grateful Dead’s Lyrics.” Reading The
Grateful Dead: A Critical Survey, Ed. Nicholas G. Meriwether, The Scarecrow Press, 2012, 109-121. First published in the Southwest Texas Popular Culture & American Culture Association Conference Program, Albuquerque, NM, February, 2010.
“‘Diamond Eye Jack: Jack Kerouac, Robert Hunter, and American Spiritual Nature Writing.” The Grateful Dead and Religion, Ed. Deepak Sarma, Duke UP, Invited submission (In process).
Selected Conference Presentations
“Organizational Mysticism in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.” Modern Language Association Convention. Washington D.C. January, 2022 (Forthcoming).
“‘Diamond Eye Jack: Jack Kerouac, Robert Hunter, and American Spiritual Nature Writing.”
Southwest Popular Culture & American Culture Association Conference. Albuquerque, NM.
February, 2020.
“Jack Kerouac: ‘Really a Scholar, a Hip Mystic.’” American Literature Association Conference.
Boston, MA. May, 2019.
“Revisiting Steinbeck’s Early Novels.” Panel Co-organizer. American Literature Association
Conference. Boston, MA. May, 2017.
“On To a God Unknown.” American Literature Association Conference. Boston, MA. May, 2017.
“Jack Kerouac and The Magic Mothswarm of Heaven.” Sacred Literature, Secular Religion: A
Conference on Cultural Practices. Syracuse, NY. October, 2015.
“Annus Mirabilis: Thoreau in 1860.” Panel Co-organizer. Thoreau Society Conference.
Concord, MA. July, 2014.
“Adopting the Method of Nature: Henry David Thoreau and John Joseph Matthews as Spiritual
Stewards of the Land” Annual Gathering of the Thoreau Society. Concord, MA. July, 2014.
Professional Appointments or Professional Service
Steering Committee, Gateway 2 Completion
Awards and Recognition
College of Arts & Sciences Award for Excellence in General Education Teaching (2020).
Excellence in Teaching for Non-Tenure Track Faculty Award, Nominee (2020)
Current Research
I am currently at work on a book project—Mystic America—that addresses the variety of ways twentieth-century novelists represent transformational mystical experiences in their work. To relate an ineffable experience in language, novelists often create striking formal innovations that challenge our understanding of genre. I call this trend, “literary mysticism,” episodes of which are often hidden in plain sight in twentieth-century fiction.