Department of English

Graduate Students

Faculty Bookshelf

View our faculty bookshelf, which features information on and links to purchase faculty publications.

Faculty & Staff

Click here to get familiar with and find contact information for our leadership, faculty, and staff.

Journals

Learn about our journal and other journals and publishing opportunities we provide our students.

“The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.”

James Baldwin

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it... it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”

C.S. Lewis

“...our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence.”

bell hooks

“Act so that there is no use in a center.”

Gertrude Stein

“Silence creates its own violence.”

Jeff Vandermeer

“Reactionary movements can't sustain themselves unless they find something new to catch and burn on.”

N.K. Jemisin

“I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.”

Maxine Hong Kingston

“Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.”

Oscar Wilde

“All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.”

Gene Wolfe

“The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have been on the one hand, and the thing we have made and the things we have made of ourselves on the other.”

H.G. Wells

About the Department

The English Department is a community of readers and writers dedicated to critical and creative approaches to a complex world. We are students of story, lovers of language, scholars of the many worlds recorded and imagined in fiction. At the core of English is the work—and the play—of creativity: discovering new worlds, exploring new ways of thinking, and developing new ways of expressing yourself.

Learn More About the Department of English Why English?

Student Reading

U Belong

We believe that the interactions between literary texts and the broad multifaceted cultural contexts that surround them are paramount. Accordingly, we excel at instilling in our students an outstanding knowledge of literary and cultural analysis, and we are dedicated to cultivating a shared set of values that recognizes and celebrates the rich tapestry of human experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives. Moreover, we are committed to ensuring that all members of our community have equal access to a sense of belonging and welcome; that they enjoy myriad opportunities to grow as scholars, teachers, and learners; and that, perhaps most importantly, they are allowed the dignity, space, and grace to participate in the free exchange of ideas.

Questions? Contact us to learn more about our programs.

GET IN TOUCH WITH US

English News

view all news

2024 Cheng Prize in English winners announced

The English Department and the College of Humanities at the University of Utah are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Vincent Cheng Prize in English for the best papers by English majors and minors at the University of Utah during calendar year 2024. There were a large number of submissions, and we would like to commend all the entrants for the many excellent papers submitted. From among all these fine papers, we selected two winners for the Best Paper award and singled out four others for Honorable Mention designation. The winners for Best Paper and a $250 award are: Emily Gonzales for "Games as Language and Social Codes in Austen's Novels" and Marisela Perez Romero for "The Madonna-Whore Dichotomy: Patriarchal Oppression and Predatory Men in Zofloya." The following four students were awarded an Honorable Mention designation: Mia Bailey, Sam Debenham, Samantha Everton, and Kote Lien. The awards were selected by a judging committee consisting of Professors Justin Carpenter, Vincent Cheng, Matt Potolsky, Lisa Swanstrom, and Sam Tett. Congratulations to the award winners for their terrific essays!
Nathan Wainstein publishes new book

Wainstein's book, titled Grant Us Eyes: The Art of Paradox in Bloodbourne, examines the challenging narrative of the game Bloodbourne. Michael W. Clune, Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities at Case Western Reserve University, praises Wainstein's work: "Grant Us Eyes shows us new dimensions of art, and new modes of experience, in FromSoftware's masterpiece. The sophistication, clarity, and intensity of Wainstein's book sets a new standard for writing about games." Hear more in a discussion between Wainstein and Clure in this podcast: https://tannerhumanities.podbean.com/e/bloodbourne-and-the-aesthetics-of-video-games-with-nathan-wainstein-and-michael-w-clune/
Undergraduate student publishes peer-reviewed article in Ecological Citizen

Alex Kellgreen, a Communications major and English minor, recently had an article published in the online journal Ecological Citizen. His reflective piece, "A condemned cathedral: Thoughts on Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire," was based on texts he encountered in a course with Professor Alf Seegert.
Graduate student's book named one of best poetry books of 2024

Congratulations to Lindsey Webb! Her book /Plat/ was just named one of the best poetry books of 2024 by The New York Times. Reviewer Elisa Gabbert praises Plat's "fascinating spatial sensibility" and architectural thinking, musing, "I keep returning to these pages, with their little blocks of language like small rooms, to pass again through their estrangement."