William Decker
Regents Professor
PhD, The University of Iowa
BA, Denison University
Areas of Interest & Expertise
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American literature colonial to contemporary
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Ethnicities and color lines
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Critical Race Theory
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Literature of travel and migration
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Autobiography, memory, epistolarity
Recent Courses Taught
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ENGL 6220, Slave Narrative Tradition: Past, Present, Future
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ENGL 5660, Whitman and Dickinson
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ENGL 5480, American Expatriates: Henry James to James Baldwin
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ENGL 4520, Remembering the Sixties
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ENGL 4300, Exotic Destinations
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ENGL 3200 (Cambridge, UK), Traveling and Telling: Mobility and the Art of Narrative
Selected Publications
Books:
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Geographies of Flight: Phillis Wheatley to Octavia Butler. Northwestern University Press, 2020.
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Kodak Elegy: A Cold War Childhood. Syracuse University Press, 2012.
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Epistolary Practices: Letter Writing in America before Telecommunications. University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
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The Literary Vocation of Henry Adams. University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
Edited Volumes:
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Daisy Miller (Introductions, annotations, bibliography). Bedford/St. Martin's Press, 2013.
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Henry Adams and the Need to Know, co-edited with Earl N. Harbert. Massachusetts Historical Society and University of Virginia Press, 2005.
Articles and Book Chapters:
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"Dynasty, Declension, and the Endurance of the House of Adams." Reviews in American History 49:2 (June 2021).
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"Autobiography, Education: Henry Adams and the Definition of a Genre." a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 33.1 (Winter 2018).
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"Longing in Long-Distance Letters: Nineteenth Century and Now," in Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judie Newman, Matthew Pethers ed., The Edinburgh Companion to Nineteenth Century American Letters and Letter-Writing. Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
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"'Who Aint a Slave?' Moby-Dick and the Slave Narrative Tradition." Literature in the Early American Republic, 2009.
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"Americans in Europe: Henry James to the Present," in Alfred Bendixen, ed. The Cambridge Companion to American Travel Writing Cambridge University Press, 2008.
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“'Surely Cora Was Not Forgotten’: Remembering Africa in the Leatherstocking Tales,” in Jeffrey Walker, ed., Reading Cooper, Teaching Cooper AMS Press, 2007.
Recent Talks and Conference Presentations
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“Henry Adams: The Many Faces of the Many and the One.” Colloquium: Henry Adams and Les Mémoires de Ariitaimai. Université de la Polynésie Française, February 27-March 1, 2023, Papeete, Tahiti.
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“Freeway Dystopia: On the Road with Lauren Oya Olamina.” Université Catholique de Louvain Virtual Talk, April 21, 2022.
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“’Twas Not Long Since I left My Native Shore”: Phillis Wheatley’s Celestial Cartography.” Massachusetts Historical Society Virtual Talk, February 17, 2022.
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"Cartographies of Fugitivity, Heterotopias of Revolt: Martin Delany to Alexandra Bell." American Studies Association Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 12, 2021.
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"Henry Adams: Knowledge and Neglect." Society for US Intellectual History, Chicago, Illinois, November 8, 2018.
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"Fugitive Geographies: The Slave Narrative and the Myth of American Space." Universität Erfurt, June 7, 2017.
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"Autobiography, Education: Henry Adams and the Definition of a Genre." Modern Language Association Convention, Austin, Texas, January 9, 2016.
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"Geography, Empathy: Octavia Butler and the Perils of Sharing." American Studies Association Meeting, Toronoto, Ontario, October 8, 2015.
Awards and Recognition
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OSU Regents Distinguished Research Award 2016
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DAAD Visiting Professor, Universität Paderborn, Germany, May-July, 2012
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Fulbright Lecturer, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 2008-2009
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Fellow, Massachusetts Historical Society 2005
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OSU Arts and Sciences Junior Faculty Research Award 1999
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Modern Language Association Prize for Independent Scholars 1990
Current Research
Book in progress: Writing Distance: Genres of Travel and Separation.