Matthew Wilkens  
Postdoctoral Fellow, PhD (2006) Literature, Duke University

In a book manuscript based on his dissertation “Points and Lines: Allegory, Event, and the End of American Modernism,” Wilkens developed a theory of the relationship between allegory and event in contemporary American fiction. He is now working to extend this framework to new areas in digital humanities and science studies. In one current project, he is using computer models to study historical variations in literary genres. His aim is to discover how literature responds to rapid cultural change, and to use this knowledge to refine our current understanding of contemporary literature, as well as to develop new tools and techniques for digital scholarship in the humanities. He is currently teaching "The Contemporary U.S. Novel" (ENGL 397.2).