David L. Porter
Associate Professor of English
and Comparative Literature
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
dporter@umich.edu

Education: Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Stanford University, 1996; B.A./M.A. in Modern Languages, Cambridge University, 1990; B.A. in Comparative Literature, Cornell University, 1988

Research Interests: Travel literature, aesthetics, eighteenth-century cultural history, China and the West, internet culture

Selected Publications: Ideographia: The Chinese Cipher in Early Modern Europe (Stanford University Press, 2001), Internet Culture (Routledge, 1997), "Writing China: Legitimacy and Representation 1606-1773" (Comparative Literature Studies, 1996), "His Master's Voice: The Politics of Narragenitive Desire in The Tempest" (Comitatus, 1993), Between Men and Feminism (Routledge, 1992)

Current Book Project: Chinoiserie and Aesthetic Accommodation in Eighteenth-Century England

Recent Courses: The Rise of the Novel; Eighteenth-Century Travel Literature; Gender, Travel, and Transgression in Eighteenth-Century Literature; Eighteenth-Century Discourses of Taste and Aesthetics; Economic Ideas in Eighteenth-Century Literature; Computer Culture; What is Literature?

Other Projects:

  • Chinese Text Sampler: a collection of 50 carefully selected, culturally important Chinese texts intended for student reading practice.
  • Clavis Sinica: an electronic reference and reading tool for intermediate students of the Chinese language.
  • Eighteenth-Century England: an experimental web site consisting of student bibliographical and multi-media research projects on various aspects of eighteenth-century cultural history.
  • Eighteenth-Century Studies Group: an interdisciplinary faculty group that hosts monthly seminars on participants' work and brings in occasional outside speakers for guest lectures.

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