Thomas Loebel teaches and researches American and African American literature in the 19th & early 20th-century, literary and cultural theory, psychoanalysis and continental philosophy. Current interests include the lost object of the voice, impersonation, and intersections between psychoanalytic object relations and object-oriented ontology. Author of The Letter and the Spirit of Nineteenth-Century American Literature (MQUP 2005), he has three book-length studies in the pipe: “Standard Deviation: Vocal Colour and American National Identity” examines what might be called the “inflections of anxiety” over legitimacy and exceptionalism in pre-20th century American literature; “Objet Relations: Beauty, Jouissance, and the Schauplatz of Henry James” rethinks the relations between desire, das Ding, objet a and aesthetical judgment of the beautiful through a Lacanian reading of The Spoils of Poynton; “’Hope is the thing with feathers’: Pre-Consciousness, Daydreaming, and Critique in Dickinson, Ellison, and Kushner,” takes seriously a Blochian approach to pre-consciousness and an awakening function of word-presentations to argue for the forward-thinking, revelatory, and redemptive potential of critical reading.

Research Interests

Current Research Projects

Current Courses

Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
Fall/Winter 2024	AP/EN4192 6.0	A	Gay Male Literature	SEMR

Thomas Loebel teaches and researches American and African American literature in the 19th & early 20th-century, literary and cultural theory, psychoanalysis and continental philosophy. Current interests include the lost object of the voice, impersonation, and intersections between psychoanalytic object relations and object-oriented ontology. Author of The Letter and the Spirit of Nineteenth-Century American Literature (MQUP 2005), he has three book-length studies in the pipe: “Standard Deviation: Vocal Colour and American National Identity” examines what might be called the “inflections of anxiety” over legitimacy and exceptionalism in pre-20th century American literature; “Objet Relations: Beauty, Jouissance, and the Schauplatz of Henry James” rethinks the relations between desire, das Ding, objet a and aesthetical judgment of the beautiful through a Lacanian reading of The Spoils of Poynton; “’Hope is the thing with feathers’: Pre-Consciousness, Daydreaming, and Critique in Dickinson, Ellison, and Kushner,” takes seriously a Blochian approach to pre-consciousness and an awakening function of word-presentations to argue for the forward-thinking, revelatory, and redemptive potential of critical reading.

Degrees

Ph.D., English (American Literature), SUNY at Buffalo
M.A., English (Literary Theory), SUNY at Buffalo
M.A., English (Curriculum), University of Toronto (OlSE)
B.A., Political Science/Philosophy, McGill University

Professional Leadership

Conference Organisation
18/10/1997 “A Continuum of Teaching:
English Language Arts from the High School to the University”

This conference brought high school English teachers from the GTA and southern Ontario together with York’s English faculty to discuss pedagogy and the issues around the transition from high school to university. Full report of the colloquium is available

Research Interests

Current Courses

Term	Course Number	Section	Title	Type
Fall/Winter 2024	AP/EN4192 6.0	A	Gay Male Literature	SEMR