Neal Dolan
| Neal Dolan | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 💼 Occupation | Scholar of American literature and intellectual history |
| Title | Associate Professor |
Neal Dolan is an American scholar of American literature and intellectual history. He is an associate professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Early life and education
Dolan earned his BA in English Literature from Yale University in 1986, graduating magna cum laude.[1] He completed his PhD in English and American Literature at Harvard University in 1999,[1] where his dissertation received the Helen Choate Bell Prize for the best dissertation in American literature.[2] In 1993, he won Harvard’s Bowdoin Prize for the best essay by a graduate student for his essay "Brother to Whom? Liberalism and Loss in V.S. Naipaul."[3]
Academic career
At the University of Toronto, Scarborough, Dolan teaches courses on English and American poetry, and on a range of topics in American literature pertaining to the evolution of a rights-based liberal culture in the United States in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. These include broad survey courses, thematic courses on ethnicity, social class, and individualism and community in American literature, as well as single author courses on writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, James Baldwin, Philip Roth, and Richard Rodriguez.[1][4]
In 2001–02, Dolan also directed and taught at the Boston site of a national program for economically disadvantaged adult learners -- The Clemente Course in the Humanities, which was awarded a National Humanities medal by President Obama in 2014.[5][6][7] He also taught at Brooklyn College in the summer of 2004.[6] And in Toronto, he has taught in yearly seminars in Written Advocacy at Osgoode Hall Law School (2004–18).[8]
Research and publications
Dolan’s research examines intersections of literature and political thought, especially in relation to themes of liberalism, individualism versus community, and the role of culture in public life.[9] His first book, Emerson’s Liberalism (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009), situates Emerson’s philosophy within the tradition of classical liberal political thought.[10]
He has published a peer-reviewed article in Twentieth-Century Literature (“The Class Dynamics of Antiracism in Go Set a Watchman,” 2023),[11] as well as articles in Raritan (“Mending Wall and the New Populism,” 2021; “Shylock in Love,” 2002)[12] and Modern Intellectual History (“Fearful Symmetry: The Unhistorical Self of Whiteness Studies,” 2015).[13] He has also contributed peer-reviewed chapters to A Power to Translate the World: New Essays on Emerson and International Culture (Dartmouth College Press, 2015);[14] Emerson in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2014);[15] and The Political Companion to Emerson (University Press of Kentucky, 2011).[16]
Public engagement
Dolan has given talks on his research in Canada, the United States, and internationally.[1] He has appeared on Canadian media, including CBC and Global News, to discuss U.S. politics and culture,[6] and has written opinion pieces for outlets such as The Hub.[17]
Honors and awards
Dolan has received several academic honors for his scholarship and teaching. In 2023, he was invited to join the Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association.[1] He served on the Advisory Board of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society from 2015 to 2018.[1] He also received the Alan Heimert Award for excellence in teaching from Harvard’s Committee on Degrees in History and Literature in 2000,[18] the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching in 1996–97,[18] and the Dexter Travelling Fellowship for summer study in England in 1993.[18]
Selected works
- Emerson’s Liberalism (University of Wisconsin Press, 2009)[10]
- “The Class Dynamics of Antiracism in Go Set a Watchman.” Twentieth-Century Literature 69.3 (2023)[11]
- “Mending Wall and the New Populism.” Raritan 41.3 (2021)[12]
- “Fearful Symmetry: The Unhistorical Self of Whiteness Studies.” Modern Intellectual History 12.02 (2015)[13]
- “Emerson and China.” In A Power to Translate the World: New Essays on Emerson and International Culture. Dartmouth College Press, 2015[14]
- “Emerson and History.” In Emerson in Context. Cambridge University Press, 2014[15]
- “Property in Being: The Language of Ownership in Emerson’s Writing.” In The Political Companion to Emerson. University Press of Kentucky, 2011[16]
- “Shylock in Love.” Raritan 21.1 (2002)[19]
Reception
Dolan’s first book, Emerson’s Liberalism (2009), received independent and scholarly attention in peer-reviewed journals:
- In The Review of Politics, Edmund R. Goode described the book as a “significant attempt to reclaim Emerson as a liberal thinker, situating him more firmly within the history of political thought.”[20]
- Jason A. Scorza reviewed the book in The New England Quarterly, noting Dolan’s success in restoring Emerson as a liberal thinker within Enlightenment traditions.[21]
- Jonathan Murphy, writing in the Canadian Review of American Studies, called the work “an important corrective to New Americanist approaches,” commending its philosophical grounding and historical breadth.[22]
See also
- American literature
- Intellectual history
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Walt Whitman
- Clemente Course in the Humanities
- University of Toronto Scarborough
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Neal Dolan". University of Toronto Scarborough. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ "Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1999–2000 Student Prize Recipients". Harvard University. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ "Neal Dolan: The death of affirmative action could be a new, more liberal beginning". The Hub. 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ "2025-2026 Graduate English Courses". University of Toronto Scarborough Department of English. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ "Spotlight: Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Stanley Paterson Professor of American History, Boston Clemente". The Clemente Course in the Humanities. November 26, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Neal Dolan: The illiberal turn of our universities should worry us all". The Hub. February 11, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ "The Clemente Course in the Humanities". National Endowment for the Humanities. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ "THE 20TH ANNUAL COURSE ON WRITTEN ADVOCACY" (PDF). Osgoode Professional Development. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ "Neal Dolan". University of Toronto. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Dolan, Neal (2009). Emerson's Liberalism. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-22804-0. Retrieved 2025-09-02. Search this book on
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Dolan, Neal (2023). "The Class Dynamics of Antiracism in Go Set a Watchman". Twentieth-Century Literature. 69 (2): 121–146. doi:10.1215/0041462X-10460000 (inactive September 9, 2025). Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Dolan, Neal (2021). "Mending Wall and the New Populism". Raritan. 41 (1): 121–141. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Dolan, Neal (2015). "Fearful Symmetry: The Unhistorical Self of Whiteness Studies". Modern Intellectual History. 12 (2): 417–442. doi:10.1017/S1479244314000419. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Dolan, Neal; Wey, Laura Jane (2015). "Emerson and China". A Power to Translate the World: New Essays on Emerson and International Culture. Dartmouth College Press. pp. 236–248. ISBN 978-1611684384. Retrieved 2025-09-02. Search this book on
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Dolan, Neal (2014). "Emerson and History". Emerson in Context. Cambridge University Press. pp. 109–117. ISBN 9781107028012. Retrieved 2025-09-02. Search this book on
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Dolan, Neal (2011). "Property in Being: The Language of Ownership in Emerson's Writing". The Political Companion to Emerson. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 454–507. ISBN 9780813134321. JSTOR j.ctt2jckvx. Retrieved 2025-09-02. Search this book on
- ↑ "Neal Dolan, Author at The Hub". The Hub. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1999–2000 Student Prize Recipients". Harvard University. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
- ↑ Dolan, Neal (2002). "Shylock in Love: Economic Metaphors in Shakespeare's Sonnets". Raritan. 21 (1): 26–51. Retrieved 2025-09-02.
- ↑ Goode, Edmund R. (2010). "Enlightened Puritan – Neal Dolan: Emerson's Liberalism". The Review of Politics. 72 (4): 736–738. doi:10.1017/S0034670510000707.
- ↑ Scorza, Jason A. (2010). "Review of Emerson's Liberalism". The New England Quarterly. 83 (1): 153–155. doi:10.1162/tneq.2010.83.1.153. JSTOR 25652084.
- ↑ Murphy, Jonathan (2013). "Review of Emerson's Liberalism". Canadian Review of American Studies. 43 (1): 164–171. doi:10.1353/crv.2013.0001.
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