Naomi Jacobs
Professor Emerita of English
Email: naomi.jacobs@maine.edu
RESEARCH
Utopian Literature, Women’s Literature, The Novel
EDUCATION
Ph.D. 1982 University of Missouri, Columbia
Theory and History of the Novel
M.A. 1977 University of Missouri, Columbia
English and American Literature
B.A. 1975 Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, summa cum laude
English and American Literature
HONORS
University of Maine
Society for Utopian Studies Larry E. Hough Award for Distinguished Service, 2008
Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Faculty Member, 1997
University of Missouri
G. Ellsworth Huggins Graduate Scholarship, 1979-81
D.R. Francis Fellowship in Creative Literature, 1978-79
English Department Teaching Fellowship, 1977-79
Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1977
First Place, Mahan Awards for Fiction, 1977
Luther College
National Merit Scholar, 1971-75
COURSES TAUGHT
Graduate Courses
- ENG 529: Studies in Literature – Utopia and Postmodernism
- ENG 545: American Realism and Naturalism
- ENG 549: Studies in Gender and Literature – Nineteenth-Century Women Writers, Transatlantic Dialogues
- ENG 558: Modern British Literature
- Introduction to the Graduate Study of Literature
- Victorian Novel
- The Brontes
- Literary Families
- Audience and Authorial Voice
- Literature and the Body
- Nineteenth Century Women Writers
- WST 510: Advanced Studies in Feminist Theory
Undergraduate Courses
British Literature:
- ENG 252: English Literature Survey – Romanticism to the Present
- ENG 256: British Women’s Literature
- ENG 460: Major British Authors – The Brontes and Their Legacy
- ENG 465: The British Novel
- Dickens and Eliot
American Literature:
- ENG 241: American Literature Survey 1 – From the Beginnings to the Romantics
- ENG 242: American Literature Survey: Realism to the Present
- ENG 245: American Short Fiction
- ENG 246: American Women’s Literature
- ENG 445: American Novel
- Contemporary American Fiction
Other Literature:
- ENG 229: Topics in Literature – Utopias
- Introduction to Fiction
- Introduction to Literary Study
- Fiction and History
Women’s Studies:
- ENG 471: Feminist Literary Criticism
- WST 101: Introduction to Women’s Studies
- WST 410: Feminist Theory Images of Women in Literature
Writing:
- ENG 101: College Composition
- ENG 205: Introduction to Creative Writing
- ENG 212: Persuasive and Analytical Writing
- ENG 406: Advanced Creative Writing
- HON 310: Honors Tutorial
- Sophomore Exposition
- Fiction Writing
- Technical Writing for Accountancy Majors
- Professional Writing
Interdisciplinary:
- Bodies of Power
- Honors Tutorial in Twentieth-Century Utopianism
PUBLICATIONS
Books
The Good Gardener? Nature, Humanity and the Garden. Ed. Annette Giesecke and Naomi Jacobs. London: Artifice Books on Architecture, 2015.
Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia and the Garden. London: Black Dog, 2012. Ed. Annette Giesecke and Naomi Jacobs.
The Character of Truth: Historical Figures in Contemporary Fiction. Crosscurrents in Modern Fiction, Third Series. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990.
Articles and Book Chapters
“The Posthuman in Utopia and Dystopia.” New Palgrave Handbook on Utopia and Dystopia. Ed. Fatima Viera, Peter Marks, and Jennifer Wagner. Forthcoming.
“Utopian Home Spaces in Shelter Media.” Journal of Popular Culture 52.2 (15 April 2019): 436-455.
“Gardens in the Utopian Tradition.” Co-authored with Annette Giesecke. Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia and the Garden. Ed. Annette Giesecke and Naomi Jacobs. London: Black Dog, 2012. 6-17.
“Consuming Beauty: The Urban Garden as Ambiguous Utopia.” Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia and the Garden. Ed. Annette Giesecke and Naomi Jacobs. London: Black Dog, 2012. 156-169.
“Utopian Studies and the Beloved Community.” Utopia-Method-Vision. Ed. Tom Moylan and Raffaella Baccolini. Ralahine Utopian Studies Series. Oxford and Berne: Peter Lang, 2007. Second printing, 2009. 223-244.
“Assent, Dissent and the Body in Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Utopian Studies 18.1(2007):3-20.
“Barbara Kingsolver’s Anti-Western: ‘Unraveling the Myths’ in Animal Dreams.” Americana: Journal of American Popular Culture 2.2 (Fall 2003): 1-13.
“Posthuman Bodies and Agency in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy.” Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Ed. Tom Moylan and Raffaella Baccolini. New York and London: Routledge, 2003. 91-112.
