Edgar V. McKnight, Jr.   

P.O. Box 1149 

Anderson University 

Anderson, SC  29621

(864) 231-2135 

emcknight@ac.edu

Education: 
Ph.D., English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1994
Major field of concentration: Twentieth-Century Literature 
Minor field of concentration: Literary Theory 

MA, English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1988
(Thesis: “The Theory and Practice of Reader-Response Criticism and its Application to John Updike's The Coup”) 

BA, magna cum laude, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., 1985
Major: English, minor: Philosophy 

 

Dissertation: 
Alternative History: The Development of a Literary Genre. The dissertation traces the evolution of the alternative history, or uchronia, from its earliest appearance in the nineteenth century to its most recent manifestations in the postmodern era. Dissertation director: Julius R. Raper 

 

Academic Honors: 
Honors Faculty, Anderson University, 2005

Kenan Fellow, University of North Carolina, 1985 - 1986 
Phi Beta Kappa, Wake Forest University, 1985 
Carswell Scholar, Wake Forest University, 1981 - 1985   

 

Teaching Experience: 

Assistant Professor, Anderson University, 2002 - present

            Topics in Literary Criticism

Nineteenth-Century American Literature

The History of the English Language

Fantasy and Science Fiction (Topics in Literature)

Theology and Literature (Honors)

Business Communication

Business Communication (Online)

British Literature Survey I

            British Literature Survey II

American Literature Survey I

American Literature Survey II

World Literature Survey I

World Literature Survey II

            Liberal Arts Laboratory (Freshman Seminar)

            Composition I

Composition II


Assistant Professor, Gardner-Webb University, 1999 - 2002

            Critical Approaches to Literature
            British Literature Survey II
            American Literature Survey I
            American Literature Survey II
            Composition I
            Composition II
            Freshman Experience


Instructor, John A. Logan College, 1992 - 1998
            Technical Writing
            Introduction to Literature
            Developmental Reading
            Composition I
            Composition II 


Teaching Assistant, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1989 - 1991
            Introduction to Film Criticism 

 

Teaching Interests: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century British and American Literature, Literary Theory, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Composition and Film 

 

Publications: 

“Arthur.”  The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders.  Ed. Gary Westfahl.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2005: 56-58.

 

“History.”  The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders Ed. Gary Westfahl.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2005: 381-83.

 

“Philosophy.”  The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders.  Ed. Gary Westfahl.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2005: 595-97.

 

“Satire.”  The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders.  Ed. Gary Westfahl.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2005: 693-95.

 

“Secret History.”  The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works and Wonders.  Ed. Gary Westfahl.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 2005: 702-04.

 

Poul Anderson.”  Supernatural Fiction Writers, Second Edition.  Ed. Richard Bleiler.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003: 33-43.

 

“A Walk in the Woods.”  Masterplots II, Drama Series, Revised Edition.  Ed Christian H. Moe.  Pasadena:  Salem Press, 2003: 1691-1695.

 

“Locksley Hall.” Critical Survey of Poetry, Second Revised Edition. Ed. Chris Moose. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2002: 2301-2303.

 

“Reader-Response Theory and Science Fiction.” The SFRA Review 247 (July-August, 2000). 

 

Cat's Cradle.” The Sixties in America. Ed. Carl Singleton. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1999. 

 

“Paul Simon.” Popular Musicians. Ed. Steve Hochman. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1999. 

 

“Simon and GarfunkelPopular Musicians. Ed. Steve Hochman. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1999. 

 

The Last Unicorn.” Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction. Ed. Kirk H. Beetz. Beacham Publishing, 1998. 

 

“Kurt Vonnegut.” Ready Reference: Censorship. Ed. Lawrence Amey. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1997. 

 

New Worlds.” Ready Reference: Censorship. Ed. Lawrence Amey. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1997. 

 

“Upton Sinclair.” Ready Reference: Censorship. Ed. Lawrence Amey. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1997. 

 

“The Way We Weren't,” SFRA Review 232 (November-December, 1997) 

 

The Man in the High Castle.” Magill's Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. Ed. T. A. Shippey. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1996. 

 

Pavane.” Magill's Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. Ed. T. A. Shippey. Pasadena: Salem Press, 1996. 

 

“The Once and Future King.”  SFRA Review 225 (September-October, 1996) 

 

“Kurt Vonnegut: From A to Z and Past to Present.” SFRA Review 217 (May-June, 1995)

 

Selected Reviews: 

The Star Wars Poster Book in SFRA Review 276 (April-June, 2006)

 

Fantastic Literature: A Critical Reader in SFRA Review 272 (April-June, 2005)

 

“In the Zone” (As Timeless as Infinity Volumes I and II and The Twilight Zone Scripts of Charles Beaumont) in SFRA Review 271 (January-March, 2005)

 

Classic and Iconoclastic Alternate History Science Fiction in SFRA Review 269 (July-September, 2004)

 

Decoding Gender in Science Fiction in SFRA Review 266 (October-December, 2003)

 

Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams in SFRA Review 265 (July-September, 2003)

 

At Millennium’s End: New Essays on the Work of Kurt Vonnegut in SFRA Review 262 (January-February, 2003)

 

What If? 2: Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been in SFRA Review 257 (March-April, 2002)

 

The Poetics of Science Fiction in SFRA Review 249 (November-December, 2000)

 

Transformations of Utopia: Changing Views of the Perfect Society in SFRA Review 242 (September-October, 1999)

 

Lancelot and Guinevere: A Casebook in SFRA Review 230 (July-August, 1997)

 

Fire and Power: The American Space Program as Postmodern Narrative in SFRA Review 222 (March-April, 1996)

 

Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture in SFRA Review 219 (September-October, 1995)

 

Twentieth-Century Fantasists in Utopian Studies 5.1 

 

Presentations: 

“Christopher Paulini’s Eragon.”  Anderson County Library, May 21, 2006.

 

“What the Future Sounded Like.”  The National Popular Culture Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, April 15, 2006.

 

“Philip Roth’s The Plot against America.”   The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, March 17, 2005.

 

“Dean Koontz’s By the Light of the Moon.”  Anderson County Library, June 13, 2004.

 

“Stephen King’s The Stand.”  Anderson County Library, May 16, 2004.

 

“J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”  Anderson County Library, December 21, 2003.

 

“John Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.”  Anderson County Library, April 13, 2003.

 

“Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity.”  Anderson County Library, March 16, 2003.

 

“Truth, Lies, and Satire in Vonnegut, Twain and Morrow.”  Philological Association of the Carolinas, April 2002.

 

“'Please Add an Orgy:' Reader Response in 'The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.'“ College English Association of NC & VA, September 22, 2001.

 

“The Future as Metaphor: Extrapolation and Analogy in Alternate History.”
South Atlantic Modern Language Association, November 10-12, 2000.

 

“Transformations:  Terry Bisson's Fiction and the South.”  Popular Culture Association in the South, October 5-9, 2000.

 

“Counterfactuals in the Classroom.”  North Carolina Baptist Teachers of English Biannual Conference, September 22-23, 2000.

 

“Alternatives and Counterfactuals: History or SF?” Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association, June 28-July 2, 2000

 

“Remaking the World: The Narrative Elements of Alternate History.”  Narrative Studies Confence, April 6-9, 2000

 

“Changing the Past: Writing and Reading Alternate History.” The YOTS Scholarly Lecturer Series, Gardner Webb University, February 28, 2000

 

“Southern Accents in Science Fiction.” (Panelist) Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association, June 2-6, 1999 

 

“Alternative History and the Resisting Reader.” Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association, June 20-23, 1996 

 

“The New Euchronia: Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain.” Annual Meeting of the Society for Utopian Studies, November 4-7, 1993 

 

Editor:

SFRA Review, Non-Fiction Reviews Editor, July, 2001 - present

 

Service: 

Moderator, Panel on Media and Fiction, Society for the Study of Narrative Literature Annual Conference, April 6-9, 2000

 

Judge for 1999 NSDAR Essay Writing Competition, Flint Hills Chapter, North Carolina 

 

Judge for 1997 Creative Writing Competition, Jackson County High Schools, Illinois 

 

Languages: French and German 

 

Memberships:
Modern Language Association
South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Science Fiction Research Association
International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Society for Narrative Studies
Popular Culture Association in the South
College
English Association