Thomas W. Howard
I am an Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bilkent University, where I teach in the Program in Cultures, Civilizations and Ideas. I earned my PhD in English & American Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. I specialize in nineteenth-century American and transatlantic literature, literature and science, and the environmental humanities.
Book Project
My current book project, Aphoristic Science: Ecology, Psychology, and Nineteenth-Century American Literature, argues that a speculative style of writing—which I identify with the open-ended aphorism—undergirds the emergence of new scientific inquiry in the nineteenth century. I trace this style in chapters on Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, William James, and W.E.B. Du Bois. More information is available here.
Upcoming Events
October 23–25, 2024 (Izmir, Turkey): At the American Studies Association of Turkey, I will present the paper “Aphoristic Re-Readings: Emerson, Nietzsche, and the Affordance of Short Forms.” The abstract and an accessibility copy of the presentation will be available here.
January 9–12, 2025 (New Orleans, LA): At the Modern Language Association, I will present the paper “Twain’s ‘Mental Telegraphy’ and the Limits of Psychological Research” as part of a roundtable on “Literature and the Brain.” More information is available here.
See abstracts from my recent conference presentations here.