Josef Benson

  • Associate Professor - English
  • Literature and Languages Department
  • Ph.D., University of South Florida, 2012
  • EMAIL: benson@uwp.edu
Josef Benson
Josef Benson offers courses in contemporary literature, African American literature, film, gender studies, poetry writing, fiction writing, and composition. He is the author of Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels (UP of Mississippi 2022), for which he and co-author Doug Singsen were nominated for the prestigious Will Eisner Comics Industry Award; Star Wars: The Triumph of Nerd Culture (Rowman & Littlefield 2020); J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: A Cultural History (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); and Hypermasculinities in the Contemporary Novel: Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin (Rowman & Littlefield 2014). Additionally, his work has appeared in over twenty publications, including: Modern Fiction Studies, American Literature in Transition, 1980-1990 (Cambridge UP), Journal of Medical Humanities, Journal of Bisexuality, Southwestern American Literature, The Raymond Carver Review, Saw Palm, Moon City Review, and The Adirondack Review. He holds creative writing degrees from Missouri State University and the University of South Florida as well as a Ph.D. in literature with a heavy emphasis in gender theory also from the University of South Florida, where he studied primarily with Susan Mooney, John Henry Fleming, and Jay Hopler. He is currently working on a book-length study of the Jeffrey Dahmer case.

Teaching Interests

My research, writing, and teaching interests primarily involve the intersectionalities of masculinities, "race," and sexualities in mid-to-late twentieth and twenty-first century American literatures.

Research Interests

Consulting Interests

Selected Publications

2022: Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels, University Press of Mississippi

2020: Star Wars: The Triumph of Nerd Culture, Rowman & Littlefield

2018: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: A Cultural History, Rowman & Littlefield

2014: Hypermasculinities in the Contemporary Novel: Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin, Rowman & Littlefield

University Service

: Committee Member - Personnel Review Committee
ENGL 100 - Fundamentals of English
ENGL 101 - Composition and Reading
ENGL 106 - Intro to Creative Writing
ENGL 167 - Introduction to Literature
ENGL 206 - Creative Writing: Poetry
ENGL 207 - Creative Writing: Fiction
ENGL 253 - Literature Into Film:
ENGL 266 - Literary Analysis
ENGL 267 - Literature of Diversity: (DV)
ENGL 306 - Advanced Poetry Writing
ENGL 307 - Advanced Fiction Writing
ENGL 328 - 19th Century American Lit
ENGL 329 - 20TH & 21ST CENT AMERICAN LIT
ENGL 329 - 20th/21st Century American Lit
ENGL 451 - Studies in Literature/Culture:
ENGL 477 - Portfl Wrkshp:Engl,Film,Cultrl
ENGL 478 - Prtfolio Wrkshp:Engl Lang Arts
ENGL 479 - PORTFOLIO WRKSHP: PROF WRITING
ENGL 479 - Prtfolio Wrkshp:Professnl Wrtg
ENGL 499 - Independent Study:
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