Faculty
Ariel Clark Silver
Humanities Division Chair; Associate Professor of English
“To teach is to set transformative conversations in motion – with ourselves, with others, with those whose works we encounter. The mode of conversation – giving and receiving, speaking and listening – respects all who participate and considers each contribution. It cultivates individual as well as collective enlargement. Through engagement with literary texts, I hope to help students open the book of life and read it for themselves.”
Education
- Ph.D. in English, Claremont Graduate University, 2011
- A.M. in Religion & Biblical Literature, University of Chicago, 1996
- A.B. in Religion & Biblical Literature and Dance, Smith College, 1993
Courses
- Core:
- Classics of Western Literature
- Advanced Composition
- Major:
- American Literature I & II
- Topics Courses and Senior Paper
- Honors:
- Focus Courses and Seminars
Teaching Positions & Professional Experience
- Faculty Member, Southern Virginia University, 2022-present
- English Program Associate Coordinator, Southern Virginia University, 2024–present
- Faculty Member, Columbus Ohio Institute of Religion, 2013–22
- Faculty Member, The Waterford School, 1995–97
Scholarship & Creative Work
- The Book of Esther opens new tab to youtube video, on Follow Him, 2022
- From the Palace of Shushan to Uncle Tom’s Cabin opens new tab to book article, in Esther in America, Maggid, 2017
- The Scarlet Letter as a Great American Novel opens new tab to youtube video, National Association of Scholars, 2021
- Search for Eve in Twain’s Garden of Eden, Mark Twain Studies
- Queen Aster and Queen Esther opens new tab to article, The Lehrhaus, 2021
- The Sensational Possibilities of the Double-Proposal Marriage Plot in Alcott’s Moods opens new tab to journal, in Beyond Little Women, Palgrave Macmillan, 2024
- The Story of Hagar and American Exile, Jewish History and American History: The Living Connection, 2024
- Faith and Female Exegesis opens new tab to book, in Every Needful Thing, The Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship, 2023
- Republics Abroad: The Art and Politics of Margaret Fuller and May Alcott Nieriker in Nineteenth-Century Europe opens new tab to book chapter, in The Forgotten Alcott: Essays on the Artistic Legacy and Literary Life of May Alcott Nieriker, Routledge, 2022
- Book review of Melville’s Wisdom: Religion, Skepticism, and Literature in Nineteenth-Century America opens new tab to book review, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, 2022
- Joan of Arc as Avatar of Female Agency and Action in America opens new tab to article, RFEA, 2019
- The Book of Esther and the Typology of Female Transfiguration in American Literature opens new tab to monograph, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018
Awards, Leadership & Service
-
Lead Organizer, International Poe/Hawthorne Dis/embodiments Conference, Paris, France, July 2025
-
President, Hawthorne Society, 2023–present
- Alyson R. Miller Fellow in Women’s History, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2023–24
-
Quarry Farm Fellow, Center for Mark Twain Studies, 2022
-
MWHIT Independent Scholar Award, 2021
-
Women’s Author Initiative, Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2021
-
External Peer Reviewer, Israeli Science Foundation, Anthem Press, Neophilologus, 2020–22
-
Panel Creator and Organizer, NeMLA, 2020–21
- Panel Chair, American Literature Association, 2018, 2021, 2024
- National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute Fellowships, 2017, 2018, 2023
Memberships
- Modern Language Association
- American Literature Association
- C19