Joseph Zornado
Academic Background
B.A., M.A. San Diego State University;
Ph.D. University of Connecticut
J. Zornado came to Rhode Island College in 1995. He taught Children’s Literature, a variety of courses on American Literature, developed a course called Zen and the Literary Experience, and studied issues in teaching and learning. He published essays on Flannery O’Connor, The Wizard of Oz among many other essays and articles. His first book which came out in 2001 from Routledge entitled: Inventing the Child: Culture, Ideology, and the Story of Childhood. From 2002 until 2014 he focused on a large project researching, teaching and writing about Speculative Fiction. In 2002 he began the first volume of a Speculative Fiction trilogy entitled 2050: A Future History. Volume One: Gods of Little Earth was published in 2007 by Speculative Fiction Review. In 2009 Volume One and Volume Two: The Power at the Bottom of the World were published by Iron Diesel Press. In 2014-15 Volume One, Two, and Three: When Immortals Reign will be published by Merry Blacksmith Press. He has co-authored textbooks on the teaching of writing, the first called Professional Writing for Social Work Practice (2012) published by Springer Publishing, and the second Professional Writing for the Criminal Justice System (2014). In
2017 he published Disney and the Dialectic of Desire: Fantasy as Social Practice from Palgrave MacMillan. In 2019 he published Critical Thinking: Developing the Intellectual Tools for Social Justice from Routledge. He is currently co-authoring a book on the cinematic superhero titled Gods and Monsters: The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice, from Palgrave MacMillan.
His current teaching interests include American Literature, Children’s Culture, Fantasy and the Lacanian subject, Zen and the Literary Experience, Environmental Studies, Literature, and Ecocriticism.
Courses Taught
First Year Seminar: Mickey Mouse Monopoly
First Year Writing: Honors
ENGL 120 Studies in Literature and Identity, Self and Story
ENGLISH 201: Introduction to Literary Studies
ENGL 202- Literary Studies: Theory and Criticism
ENGL 207 American Literature, Beginnings to the Present
ENGLISH 210: Children’s Literature
English 212: Young Adult Literature
ENGLISH 263: Zen and the Literary Experience
ENGLISH 301: Reading America to the Civil War
ENGLISH 302: Nineteenth-Century American Literature
ENGL 328: Modern American Fiction
ENGLISH 329: Contemporary American Fiction
English 341: Literature and Film
ENGLISH 350: Disney
ENGLISH 350: J.R.R. Tolkien
ENGL 460: Disney
ENGLISH 460: Fantasy and the Lacanian Subject
ENGL 521: Cultural Studies and Children’s culture
English 525:
Publications
Selected Books
Critical Thinking: Developing the Intellectual Tools for Social Justice (2019) Routledge with Jill Harrison and Dan Weisman.
Disney and the Dialectic of Desire: Fantasy as Social Practice (2017). Palgrave MacMillan
Professional Writing for Social Work Practice. (2017) Springer with Dan Weisman
Professional Writing for the Criminal Justice System (2017) Springer With Jill Harrison and Dan Weisman
2050 Volume Three: When Immortals Reign. (2015) Merry Blacksmith Press
2050 Volume Two: The Power at the Bottom of the World. (2014) Merry Blacksmith Press
2050 Volume One: Gods of Little Earth. (2014) Merry Blacksmith Press
Inventing the Child: Culture, Ideology and the Story of Childhood. New York: Routledge. Hardback, 2001. Paperback 2006.
Selected Articles
“Children’s Film as Social Practice.” Comparative Literature and Culture on the Web. Purdue University. September 2008.
“A Becoming Habit: Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction of Unknowing.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Vol. 132. New York: The Gale Group. Spring, 2003.
“A Poetics of History: Karen Cushman’s Medieval World.” Children’s Literature Review. Vol. 55. New York: The Gale Group. 1999.
“Free Play: Christian Hierarchies, the Child and a Negative Way.” Christianity and Literature. Vol. 47. Number 2, 1998.
“Swaddling the Child in Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. Vol. 22, Number 3. 1997. 26-37.
“A Becoming Habit: Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction of Unknowing.” Religion and Literature. Vol. 29, number 2. 1997. 27-59.
“A Poetics of History: Karen Cushman’s Medieval World.” The Lion and the Unicorn. Vol. 21, number 2. 1997. 251-66.
