Brett Zimmerman specializes in American literature, particularly of the nineteenth century. His published books include Herman Melville: Stargazer (about Melville’s knowledge and literary use of astronomy) and Edgar Allan Poe: Rhetoric and Style (demonstrating Poe’s stylistic versatility, with an emphasis on the rhetorical tropes and schemes). He has also written a manual, Essay Writing and Other Critical Skills.

Research Interests

Brett Zimmerman specializes in American literature, particularly of the nineteenth century. His published books include Herman Melville: Stargazer (about Melville’s knowledge and literary use of astronomy) and Edgar Allan Poe: Rhetoric and Style (demonstrating Poe’s stylistic versatility, with an emphasis on the rhetorical tropes and schemes). He has also written a manual, Essay Writing and Other Critical Skills.

His publications include the following: University Affairs (book reviews, opinion pieces); Humanist in Canada (Nietzsche’s themes; the Protestant Reformation; logical fallacies; Galileo; Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy; Salem witchcraft; mental health in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter; astronomy and theological reflections; Michael Moore’s satirical techniques). He has collected most of these essays in a book, Moral and Intellectual Objections to Christianity from a Multi-Disciplinary Point of View (Blurb, 2011). Refereed journals featuring his work include: English Studies in Canada (uranography in Melville’s Mardi); Mosaic (schizophrenia and Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”; "The Fall of the House of Usher" as phrenological allegory); Essays in Arts and Sciences (astronomy in Melville’s Billy Budd and Clarel; Poe and allegory); Language and Discourse (Poe’s prose); Style (Poe’s rhetoric and forensic oratory; Melville and style; George Carlin's style and rhetorical techniques); The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (nineteenth-century American astronomy and literature); Western American Literature (Berger’s Little Big Man); The Edgar Allan Poe Review (sensibility and phrenology in “Usher”; psychology in "The Premature Burial"; colour symbolism in "The Masque of the Red Death"). Current academic projects include a textbook, An Introduction to Style in American Literature and Oratory. Self-published Blurb books include: Fun with Fallacies: How to Win More Arguments--or at Least Keep from Making an Ass of Yourself (63pp.); Astronomy in Literature: A Photographic Exploration (91pp.).

Degrees

Professional Leadership

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROFESSION:

Muse Americana: An Introduction to Style and Rhetoric in American Literature and Oratory. XanEdu/Pearson, 2010. A soft-cover “CoursePack” for students but also a publishable resource for instructors. 381 pages.

Manuscript review (essay on Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”) for English Studies in Canada (March, 2010)

Manuscript review (essay on Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”) for Mosaic (December, 2006)

Essay Writing and Other Critical Skills: A Guide to Critical Reading, Writing, and Reasoning for Students and Teachers in the Arts. 13th ed. An unpublished cerlox-bound manuscript sold through York’s bookstore to undergraduates. 164 pages.

Handbook for Tutors of Academic Writing: Tips, Caveats & Strategies. Written and compiled for tutors at the Arts Centre for Academic Writing, York University. 1st ed. 1999. 52 pages.

Research Interests