James Phelan (literary scholar)

James Phelan (born 1951) is an American writer, literary scholar, and Distinguished University Professor of English at The Ohio State University. He joined the faculty of Ohio State in 1977 after earning his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. At the University of Chicago, he studied with the Chicago School theorists Sheldon Sacks and Wayne Booth. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Aarhus University (Denmark) and in 2016 he was inducted into the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

The editor of Narrative (the journal of the International Society for the Study of Narrative), he has also written numerous books and articles on narrative theory, including Worlds from Words (1981), Reading People, Reading Plots (1989), Narrative as Rhetoric(1996), Living to Tell about It (2005), Experiencing Fiction: Judgments, Progressions, and the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative (2007). Phelan has also edited or co-edited several collections including the Blackwell Companion to Narrative Theory (2005, co-edited with Peter J. Rabinowitz) and Teaching Narrative Theory (2010, co-edited with David Herman and Brian McHale). With Peter J. Rabinowitz, Phelan co-edits the Ohio State University Press^[2] book series, The Theory and Interpretation of Narrative. Born in Flushing, NY, Phelan graduated in 1972 with a BA from Boston College. At BC he played on the basketball team, earning Academic All-America honors in 1972.

In 1991 he wrote a memoir called Beyond the Tenure Track: Fifteen Months in the Life of an English Professor. Along with Frederick Aldama, Brian McHale, and David Herman,^[3] he is one of the founders of Project Narrative,^[4] an initiative at Ohio State University.

References

Bibliography

Reading the American Novel, 1920-2010. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

Narrative Theory: Core Concepts and Critical Debates. Co-authored with David Herman, Peter J. Rabinowitz, Brian Richardson, and Robyn Warhol. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2012.

After Testimony: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Holocaust Narrative for the Future. Co-edited with Susan Suleiman and Jakob Lothe. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2012.

Fact, Fiction, and Form: Selected Essays of Ralph W. Rader. Columbus:Ohio State University Press, 2011.

• Teaching Narrative Theory. Co-edited with David Herman and Brian McHale. New York: MLA Publications, 2010.
• Joseph Conrad: Voice, Sequence, History, Genre. Co-edited with Jakob Lothe and Jeremy Hawthorn. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2008.
• Experiencing Fiction: Judgments, Progressions, and the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2007.
• A Companion to Narrative Theory. Co-edited with Peter J. Rabinowitz. Malden: Blackwell, 2005.
• Living To Tell About It: A Rhetoric and Ethics of Character Narration. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
• The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Co-edited with Gerald Graff. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000.
• Narrative as Rhetoric: Technique, Audiences, Ethics, Ideology. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1996.
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Co-edited with Gerald Graff. Boston: Bedford Books, 1995.
• Understanding Narrative. Co-edited with Peter J. Rabinowitz. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1994.
• Beyond the Tenure Track: Fifteen Months in the Life of an English Professor. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991.
• Reading People, Reading Plots: Character, Progression, and the Interpretation of Narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
• Reading Narrative: Form, Ethics, Ideology. Editor. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1989.
• Worlds from Words: A Theory of Language in Fiction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981.