Ray Horton

"In overlooking, denying, evading [this] complexity — which is nothing more than the disquieting complexity of ourselves — we are diminished and we perish; only within this web of ambiguity, paradox, this hunger, danger, darkness, can we find at once ourselves and the power that will free us from ourselves. It is this power of revelation which is the business of the novelist, this journey toward a more vast reality which must take precedence over all other claims." - James Baldwin

Education

• Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
• M.A., Case Western Reserve University
• B.A., Mercyhurst University

Highlighted Publications

• "'Rituals of the ordinary': Marilynne Robinson's Aesthetics of Belief and Finitude." PMLA, vol. 132, no. 1, 2017, pp. 119-34.
• "Robinson, Marilynne." Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts. Ed. Timothy Beal. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2016. Oxford Reference.
• American Fiction's Secular Faith. Book manuscript in progress.
• "Is There a Context for Gilead? Reading The Handmaid’s Tale and Lila under the Christian Right." Christianity & Literature, vol. 69, no. 1, 2020. Forthcoming in special issue: "Literature of / about the Christian Right," published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Courses Taught

• ENG 105 Critical Reading, Writing and Inquiry
• ENG 312 American Literature, 1865-1945
• ENG 444 American Literature, 1920-Present
• ENG 636 American Novel
• HON 251 Honors Seminar in Literature and Philosophy I
• HUM 211 Western Humanities Tradition

Areas of Specialization

• American Literature
• Literature and Religion
• Secularization Theory
• Contemporary Fiction

Awards and Distinctions

• Graduate Dean's Instructional Excellence Award, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), 2017
• Adrian-Salomon Dissertation Fellowship, CWRU, 2016-17
• College of Arts & Sciences Dissertation Fellowship, CWRU, 2016
• Dean's Fellowship, CWRU English Department, 2014-17

Leadership and Service

• President, American Religion and Literature Society, 2016-present
• Coordinator, Undergraduate Literature, 2018-present
• Faculty Advisor, English Student Organization, 2018-present

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

• Modern Language Association
• American Literature Association
• American Religion and Literature Society
• Mark Twain Circle of America
• International Society for the Study of Religion, Literature and Culture