About Me

I’m a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California, where I study how literature shapes society and our understanding of natural systems. My writing and research examine the intersection of scientific history, literature, and philosophy, with emphasis on nature and the environment. My work on this subject has appeared in Critical Inquiry, ELH, Victorian Studies, The History of Humanities, Studies in English Literature, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Literature Compass, and Book History. My first book, The Age of Analogy: Science and Literature Between the Darwins, published in 2016 by the Johns Hopkins University Press, examines how historical novels established a new relational understanding of history and furnished a new comparative method, shaping the disciplinary formations of both the life sciences and the humanities. It was shortlisted for the British Society of Literature and Science’s book prize, and was runner-up for the first book prize of the British Association for Romantic Studies. I am at work on a new book project: “The Ecology of Power,” which explores the intersection of energy and ecological thought in the modern (post 1800) imagination. If you want to learn more about my work, visit my professional profile here.

You can also find me on Twitter at @Devo3000.