Voice and Incarnation in Contemporary Images: Patristic Thought
His work focuses on American literature, with his second book, A Sense of Things, looking at the representation of objects in 19th century American literature. His interests have since progressed to modernism. He also has a long-standing interest in popular culture, and has written about Toy Story and Westerns, among other facets of American life.
His major theoretical work is on Thing theory, which borrows from Heidegger‘s object/thing distinction to look the role of objects that have become manifest in a way that sets them apart from the world in which they exist. He edited a special issue of Critical Inquiry on this subject, which won awards for best special issue of an academic journal in 2001. His essay, “The Dark Wood of Postmodernity (Space, Faith, Allegory),” which treats religious themes in the work of Marxian cultural theorist Frederic Jameson and in postmodern culture generally, was awarded the Modern Language Association‘s William Riley Parker Prize in 2005.[1]