Carl Sederholm — Associate Professor
Comparative Studies, Interdisciplinary Humanities

Contact Information

Office: 3043 JFSB

Phone: 801-422-9078

Email: csederholm@byu.edu

Commonly Taught Courses IHum 261: American Humanities through 1865
IHum 262: American Humanities since about 1877
IHUM 280: Humanities and Popular Culture
IHum 350: Interpretation of Arts and Literature (This is a course in Literary and Aesthetic Theory)
IHum 420 / 620: American Horror (Literature, Film, Art, Music)
Hum 420: / 620: Emerson and American Transcendentalism
IHUM 490 / 690: On Monsters

Semester Schedule: Office hours: 3:00-3:50, Mondays and Wednesdays or by appointment.

Fall 2012 Course Schedule

MWF 10:00-10:50, Interpretation in Literature and the Arts
MWF 11:00-11:50, Senior Seminar / Grad Seminar, On Monsters
MWF 2:00-2:50, Sophomore Seminar, Humanities and Popular Culture
MW, 4:00-5:15, IHUM 262, American Humanities since 1877

Vita: Link to Vita

Biography:

I was born and raised in Long Beach, California. I graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School, a school known for famous alumni Snoop Dogg and Cameron Diaz. I later went on to recieve my BA in English from UCLA. I received my Ph. D. in English (American Studies) from the University of Utah in 2002 and began working in BYU's department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature that same year. I'm not much of a football fan, so crosstown rivalries like the one between the U and the Y don't make much impact on me. I am an avid reader and am always looking for new books to read. I especially enjoy horror novels and police procedurals. I am a big fan of hard rock and heavy metal. I attend rock shows in Salt Lake City frequently and can often be seen at shows with my camera, taking pictures of the performances. I have been married for over 15 years; my wife, Cyndi, and I have a teen-aged son named Nathanael. 

Degrees: Ph. D. University of Utah--English with an emphasis in American Studies. My dissertation is entitled “Dormant Talismans: Reconceiving America’s Spiritual and Occult Notions of Identity.” It examined folk religious practices / magical practices and how they influenced writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, Lydia Maria Child, and others.

B. A. UCLA--English (My honors thesis was entitled “‘How Cold an Arcadia Was This!’: Failed Utopianism in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance.”)

Interests:

American Horror Literature and Film

Adaptation Theory 

Edgar Allan Poe

Shirley Jackson

Heavy Metal Music and Literary Adaptation  

Hobbies: Playing the Guitar and the Banjo

Listening to Heavy Metal Music

Reading Detective Novels

Watching Movies