Office Location
Innovation, Science, and Technology Building, 4700 Research Way, Room 2005, Lakeland, FL 33805
Education
Ph.D. in English, University of Florida, 2013
M.F.A in Creative Writing, University of Florida, 2007
B.A. in English, University of Houston, 2005
B.A. in History, University of Houston, 2003
B.A. in Philosophy, University of Houston, 1998
Social Media Accounts/Websites *
About
Dr. C. Wylie Lenz is the chair of the arts, humanities, and social sciences department at Florida Polytechnic University, having joined the faculty in 2014. Since 2005, he has taught courses in composition, technical communication, creative writing, American literature, and European literature. Most recently, he has developed a writing-intensive interdisciplinary humanities course that examines the intersections of technology, literature, and culture. His scholarly and creative activities include multiple publications and presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. His scholarship addresses a broad range of literary and cultural topics, including American literature, from the 19th century to the contemporary era; early modern British literature; film and media studies; utopian studies; popular culture; apocalyptic narratives; and zombie narratives.
Lenz was born in Houston but has lived in Copenhagen, San Francisco, Austin, New York City, Seattle, Gainesville, and elsewhere, before arriving in Lakeland in 2013. Aside from his career in academia, Lenz has had a long and varied employment history, having worked as a puller, packer, and stocker in a warehouse; a substitute teacher in a public high school; a clerk at an independent record store; a freelance writer; a receptionist at a small accounting firm; a dishwasher at a health food restaurant; a fundraiser for a non-profit organization; a technician at a plumbing repair company; and a hobo riding the rails. He also once spent an afternoon washing yurts.
Expertise
- American literature
- Popular culture
- Media and film studies
- Utopian studies
Selected Publications
- Lenz, Wylie, ed. [under contract]. Representations of Poverty in American Popular Culture: Essays. [edited book]
- Lenz, Wylie. 2017. “Toward a Genealogy of the American Zombie Novel—From Jack London to Colson Whitehead.” In The Written Dead: Essays on the Literary Zombie, edited by Kyle William Bishop and Angela Tenga, 98-119. McFarland. [book chapter]
- Boluk, Stephanie and Wylie Lenz. 2011. “Infection, Media, and Capitalism: From Early Modern Plagues to Postmodern Zombies.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 10, no. 2 (Fall/Winter): 127-148. [peer-reviewed article]
- Boluk, Stephanie and Wylie Lenz. 2011. “Introduction: Generation Z—The Age of Apocalypse.” In Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture, edited by Stephanie Boluk and Wylie Lenz, 1-17. McFarland. [book chapter]
- Boluk, Stephanie and Wylie Lenz, eds. 2011. Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture. McFarland. [edited book]
- Lenz, Wylie. 2006. “What David Knew.” Lumina (5): 91-105. [short story]
- Lenz, Wylie. 2002. “Nineteen.” In The Zine Yearbook: An Annual Collection of the Best Zines Publishing Today, Volume Six, edited by Jen Angel and Jason Kucsma, 99-101. Become the Media. [personal essay]
- Lenz, Wylie. 2002. “Incident on Norfolk Street: American Car Culture.” Clamor (January-February): 52-54. [personal essay]
*External, third-party sites not maintained by Florida Polytechnic University