Geri Harmon

Dr. Geri Harmon, originally from New York, intended to study politics and journalism at The George Washington University in Washington DC, but she soon found a more lasting truth in fiction than in current events. Any class with her will include reading contemporary and classic short stories and creative non-fiction.

Her teaching and research interests include the intellectual and cultural achievements of the 20th century, medical humanities, southern fiction, African-American texts, women's studies, modernism and comparative religion. Her dissertation, entitled "William Faulkner, His Eye for Archetype, and America's Divided Legacy of Medicine" attempts to link some of these areas.

She has taught composition, literature and humanities courses for more than 25 years at several colleges in New York, Washington DC and Atlanta.

She encourages academic confidence through creative assignments and intellectual challenge. Active discussion, clear writing and critical reading become the centerpiece of a regular class.

Publications

• “Some Medical History Embedded in Faulkner’s Jason Compson” Faulkner and Chopin (book article). Eds. Robert W. Hamblin and Christopher Reiger. Center for Faulkner Studies, Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2010: 170-184.

Presentations

• “The Toxic Compsons and the Homeopathic Poison Remedies” presented to the annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference: Faulkner’s Families. Univ. of Miss. Oxford, MS.
• “Novel Directions for the Literary Classroom” Chair and Moderator of session panel for SAMLA 91. Atlanta, GA.
• “Teaching Special Topics: ‘The Literary History of Addiction Studies’ ” presented to SAMLA 91. Atlanta, GA.
• “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues:’ Suffering and Sustainability.” Chair and Moderator of session panel for SAMLA 86. Atlanta, GA.
• “ ‘Civilization Begins with Distillation:’ William Faulkner and the Keeley Cure for Alcoholism” presented to SAMLA 86. Atlanta, GA.
• “Medical Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Medicine and Literature” Chair and Moderator of session panel for Georgia and Carolina College English Association. Atlanta, GA.
• “ ‘The Chemistry of the Soul:’ How Studies in Hormones Shaped Fictional People” presented to Southern Association of the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS) annual conference. Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.
• “Self-Fashioning and the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Outbreak in Literary and Medical History.” Moderator for panel presented to SAHMS. Emory University, Atlanta GA.
• “ ‘Human Nature Don’t Change’: Poison and Predisposition in Faulkner’s Fiction” presented to American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA). Vancouver, CA.
• “William Faulkner’s Notions of Mind-Body Typologies” presented to SAHMS. Memphis, TN.
• “New Orleans’ Yellow Fever: Corpus and Corpse” presented to ACLA. New Orleans, LA.
• “The Chemistry of the Soul: Medical History in Faulkner” presented to ACLA. Harvard University, Boston, MA.
• “Some Medical History Embedded in Faulkner’s Characters” presented to Faulkner and Chopin Conference. Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast Missouri State Univ., Cape Girardeau, MO.
• “Faulkner’s Eye for Homeopathic Archetypes” presented to ACLA. Puebla, Mexico.
• “Culture, Politics, and Adaptation in Literature” Chair of panel at the New Voices Conference. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
• “Faulkner’s Characters and Their Symptoms” presented to SAHMS. Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA.
• “Diagnosing Literary Characters Using Homeopathy” presented to the New Voices Conference: “Reading, Writing and Rhetoric” Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
• “Quentin and Benjy Compson from The Sound and The Fury and the Homeopathic Interview” presented to the annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference. Univ. of Miss. Oxford, MS.

• Doctorate – English, American literature – Georgia State University
• Master's – English, American literature – The George Washington University
• Bachelor's – English – The George Washington University