Profile
Professional biography
Dr. Johnson teaches American and African American literature, introduction to film study, women鈥檚 literature and horror fiction. Her essays and entries on African American writers have been published in聽Modern Fiction,聽The Reference Guides to Modern and Short American Fiction, and聽The Oxford Companion to Women鈥檚 Writing.聽 Dr. Johnson is also the critical theory editor for the聽Obsidian聽journal. She is very involved in neighborhood and community issues and loves coffee, tai chi, meditation, and聽Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Academic Credentials
A.M., Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A.B. Guilford College
Presentations
Selected Publications and Presentations
鈥淭he Life and Writings of Ann Petry.鈥� Chaired at the American Literature Association. San Francisco, CA. May, 2008.
鈥淣ationhood, Gangstahood and Pedagogy: The Continuing Significance of Ann Petry鈥檚 Fiction in the Twenty-First Century.鈥� Chaired at the College Language Association. Maimi, Fl. May, 2007.
鈥淭hose Nice People: The Horror of Polite Society in Shirley Jackson鈥檚 鈥楾he Flower Garden鈥�.鈥� College Language Association. Nashville, TN. April, 2004.
鈥淟ucille Clifton鈥檚 Spiritual Imagination.鈥� Chaired at the American Literature Association. Long Beach, CA. May, 2000.
鈥淧ainfully Pointed Paradigms: The Politics of Passion in Ann Allen Shockley鈥檚 鈥楾he Mistress and the Slave Girl鈥�.鈥� American Language Association. Baltimore, MD. May, 1999.
鈥淵ou Can鈥檛 Bind What Don鈥檛 Cling: Metaphysical Discourse in August Wilson鈥檚聽JoeTurner鈥檚 Come and Gone.鈥� College Language Association. Atlanta, GA. April, 1997.
鈥淐huck Davis.鈥澛燭he North Carolina Biography Project.聽2002
鈥淢arita Bonner Occomy.鈥澛燭he Oxford Companion to Women鈥檚 Writing in the United States. Oxford University Press, 1995.
鈥淓rnest Gaines.鈥澛燭he American Reference Guide to Short Fiction. 1998.
鈥淭oni Cade Bambara.鈥澛燭he American Reference Guide to Fiction.聽1999.
鈥淪andra Gilbert and Susan Gubar.鈥澛燭he American Reference Guide to Fiction.聽1999
鈥淲riting Within the Script: Alice Dunbar-Nelson鈥檚 鈥楨llen Fenton鈥�.鈥澛燬tudies in American Fiction. Autumn (91):165-74, 1991.
Awards
Mary Lynch Johnson Chair in English, 2013-present.
