Dr. Jonathan Flatley

Professor

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Biography

Jonathan Flatley is a comparativist whose writing and teaching focus on American, African American, French, and Russian literature and art. His research concerns how collective emotion takes shape in aesthetic and political forms. His book, *Affective Mapping: Melancholia Politics Modernism* (Harvard, 2008), examines modernism’s relationship with experiences of modernity, particularly the preoccupation with loss. He argues that melancholia becomes a mechanism for understanding group attachment to loss. His current work explores Black revolutionary moods and their capacity to inspire collective action against white supremacy, identifying a distinct Black radical tradition. Flatley has received the Clark/Oakley Humanities Fellowship for his new research project, which aims to understand the act of liking through the metaphor of trees. His teaching covers a wide range of subjects, including modernism, contemporary literature, cultural studies, and queer theory, with courses in Media Aesthetics and Aesthetics of Agitation and Propaganda planned for upcoming terms.

Research Interests

Courses

Media Aesthetics Queer Theory Aesthetics of Agitation and Propaganda Affect Theory

Requirements for University of Chicago

Doctorate Program
Requirements
TOEFL
Listening
Required:26
Reading
Required:26
Writing
Required:26
Speaking
Required:26
Total
Required:104
IELTS
Listening
Required:7
Reading
Required:7
Writing
Required:7
Speaking
Required:7
Overall
Required:7
Prerequisites
Bachelor's degree Writing sample Candidate statement
Application Checklist
  • Candidate Statement
  • Transcripts
  • Letters of Recommendation (3)
  • Writing Sample
  • Application Fee
Specialization Notes

Department of Philosophy