Assistant Professor of English Literature Patrick Allen recently joined the Elizabethtown College English Department.
Allen is an expert in African American literature and is also the current Vice President of Organizational Matters at the Society for the Study of American Women Writers.
He is a graduate of both Providence College and Penn State University, receiving his bachelor’s in English, two master’s degrees in English and secondary education and his doctorate in English. Before starting at Etown, Allen worked as Assistant Professor of English at Culver-Stockton College.
Allen’s work has also been published in various literary journals and publications.
Since becoming a Blue Jay, Allen has had the opportunity to teach a First-Year Seminar class, focused on “Storying Diverse Americas.”
“I am really loving getting to know that class on a personal level as they share their experiences—in class and in writing—as first-year students who are learning and experiencing so much in their courses,” Allen said. “It’s fun, too, to be learning alongside them as we all venture through our first semester at Etown together.”
Allen’s passion for studying and teaching African American literature first began upon reading “Beloved” by renowned author Toni Morrison.
“Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ is the reason I started to seriously pursue African American literature as my academic specialty,” Allen said. “After reading it, I took an independent study on Morrison as an undergrad, during which I read all her novels and much of her other writing. She, and other Black authors, like Gayl Jones, exposed me to lived experiences I don’t know personally, and they did so in the most beautiful language.”
For Allen, teaching African American literature should be fundamental to English education.
“I also believe African American literature gets too little attention in schools—at all levels,” Allen said. “Morrison’s books are challenged or banned all the time, as are the works of other Black and queer and other marginalized authors. We get an incomplete version of American literature if we’re not reading Black authors, and I have no interest in only getting one side of the story.”
Looking into future courses, Allen will be offering multiple classes this coming spring, including an American Literature survey (post-1865), Multicultural Literature (focused on intersectionality) and Rainbow Reads: Queer American Literature.
“I’m particularly excited for the queer lit[erature] course because it will be my first time teaching it,” Allen said. “I identify as queer and think that, like Black literature, LGBTQ+ lit[erature] is too often overlooked or outright banned in the classroom.”
“I originally didn’t think this would be my first brand-new class I’d offer, but I’ve gathered that many students want to talk about sexuality and gender at Etown,” Allen said. “So, I’m looking forward to having those conversations and to exploring with my students the ways in which LGBTQ+ folks have written about and portrayed queerness in literature and other arts in the U.S.”
