BA, MA, PhD
Instructor, English
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
School of Humanities
English
604.986.1911 ext. 2422
Fir Building, room FR 442
klewis@capilanou.ca
Education
PhD, English Literature, University of Victoria, 1997.
MA, English Literature, University of British Columbia, 1991.
BA, English Literature, Queens University, 1987.
""Without contraries is no progression." William Blake"
Bio
Kent Lewis (PhD, University of Victoria, 1997) is a professor and writer with a wide range of literary interests that include (but are not limited to) modern poetry, fiction and drama, especially science fiction, horror, fantasy and the graphic novel. He also has research interests in political rhetoric and is currently investigating the neurology of persuasion.
Growing up in Markham, Ontario, Lewis moved to Kingston to get a degree in English literature from Queens University. This was followed by an MA from the University of British Columbia, and then a PhD from the University of Victoria.
Now armed with a doctorate, Lewis has taught at just about every single post-secondary institution in the lower mainland, including the First Nations House of Learning at UBC, which had a profound impact on his teaching philosophy. He eventually settled into Capilano University, where he has taught English for more than 20 years.
Lewis has served as Coordinator of the English Department, worked as a union steward, convened the Writing Practices program, chaired the English Articulation committee and served on the board of BCCAT. He is also on the editorial board of Mise En-Scne, a journal of film and visual narration, and was a visiting professor to Kushiro Public University.
My goal as a teacher is simple: to ignite the curiosity of my students. When students are curious, learning pretty much takes care of itself. When students are bored, not much education gets accomplished.
Luckily, literature is an interesting subject to teach because it is infinitely various in form and content. It is full of human feelings and familiar dramas; it is a time machine into the past and future; it is a mirror to nature and a doorway to unimagined possibilities; it is the voice of righteous indignation and a crude joke.
As a teacher, I hope that I can pass on to my students some of the enthusiasm I have for literature, as well as the solace and insight it can bring.
My teaching interests cover the standard English literary tradition, with a special reverence for James Joyce. During my MA and PhD, I read experimental writers, composing a dissertation on sound poet Steve McCaffery. I do research in science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction, dystopian fiction, graphic novels, critical theory, Greek and Roman literature, Japanese culture, modern film and world literature.
As I taught English, my interests started to evolve towards better understanding the political uses and abuses of language. I recently finished a sabbatical during which I researched the neurological underpinnings of argument and persuasion, hoping to publish a book that marries rhetoric with recent psychological research.
Publications
Inglourious Avatards: Seductive Fantasies in Tarantino and Cameron, The Parallax, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 12-18, Spring 2011.
As Above, So Below: Parallax in Sharon Thesen's The Good Bacteria, The Capilano Review, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 114-118, Spring 2008.
This! Is Fascism!: 300 as Popaganda, West Virginia University Philological Papers. vol. 55, (forthcoming), 2007.
Word and World, Thomson-Nelson, 2007.
Lump, The Capilano Review, vol. 2, no. 49, pp 101-108, Spring 2006.
A Brief Introduction to Canadian Literature, Kushiro Public University Discussion Paper Series. Series B, no. 8, pp. 1-36, April 2004.
Three Faces of Faith, Canadian Literature, vol. 176, pp. 139-141, Spring 2003.
Still Points Within the Wake, Images of Joyce, vol. 2 ed. Clive Hart, C. George Sandulescu, Bonnie F. Scott and Fritz Senn. Colin Smythe P, 1998.
Various entries, Reader's Encyclopedia of Canadian Writing, Ed. by W. H. New, U of Toronto P, 1997.
Rev. of The Cheat of Words, Steve McCaffery, The Malahat Review, vol. 118, pp 117-119, Spring 1997.
The Framing of Gertrude Stein: Her Cubist Sentencing, Contra/Dictions: Sixth Annual Free Exchange Conference. Ed. by Jennifer Kelly, Melanie Kolbeins and Catherine Radimer. U of Calgary P, pp. 78-86, 1994.
Susan Howe's Poetics of the Bibliography, West Coast Line, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 118-127, Spring 1993.
Conference Papers
2007: This! Is! Fascism! 300 as Popaganda Colloquium on Modern Literature and Film, University of West Virginia, Morgantown, West Virginia.
1996: From Use to Ruse: Steve McCaffery's Technological Catechresis, Identity and Alterity in Language and Literature Conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. 1995: The Latitude of the Post-Modern: Steve McCaffery's Displacements, Revising Regionalism Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
1995 In the Interim: The Poetics of Steve McCaffery, Convergences and Transformations Conference, McGill University, Montreal, QC.
1994: 'Don't let them immanentize the Eschaton!': A Theory of Conspiracies, Strategies of Critique X Conference, York University, Toronto, ON.
1991: Still Points Within the Wake, 12th International James Joyce Symposium, Monaco.
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, University of Victoria, 1994-96.
Departmental Fellowship, University of Victoria, 1992-95.
President's Research Scholarship, University of Victoria, 1994-96.
Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Victoria, 1996.
Traveling Grants, University of Victoria, 1990-96.
First in Class, University of Warsaw, 1988.
Wallace Near Prize, Queen's University, 1987.
Honour Roll, Queen's University, 1995.
Gulf Oil Canada Educational Bursary, Queen's University, 1983.