Julianne Werlin, Bacca Foundation Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Culture and Society

Please note: Julianne has left the "Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Science and Cultural Theory" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

I am an early modernist whose work focuses on sociological and demographic approaches to literary history. I am currently working on a project entitled English Authors, 1500-1700: A Demographic History. This is a prosopographic study of approximately 600 early modern literary authors, situating them within demographic and economic trends including life expectancy, nuptiality, urbanization, and class mobility. It seeks to establish the major patterns in writers' birthplace, class background, lifespan, education, profession, and other characteristics across the period. 

My work also examines connections between economic and literary history. My first book, Writing at the Origin of Capitalism (Oxford) attempted to synthesize the findings of book history and early modern English economic history to show how market centralization shaped the production and circulation of books and manuscripts. I have an ongoing interest in the intersection of book history and the economy, including price history, the market for popular and elite literature (ballads versus folios), and the relationship between class and genre.

Other interests include poetry and poetics, language and linguistic change, and the history of authorship. I enjoy considering long literary histories, from the ancient world to the present, and welcome conversations with students at any level who share that interest. 

Contact Info:

Office Location:	322 Allen Building
Office Phone:	(919) 684-2741
Email Address:
Web Page:	http://sites.duke.edu/prosopography

Teaching (Spring 2024):

• ENGLISH 290S-1.01, SP TOP MEDIEVAL/EARLY MOD LIT Synopsis

  Perkins 079, WF 11:45 AM-01:00 PM

  (also cross-listed as MEDREN 290S-1.01)

• ENGLISH 590S-4.01, SP TOP CRITICISM/THEORY/METH Synopsis

  Allen 306, W 03:20 PM-05:50 PM

• ENGLISH 101S.02, THE ART OF READING Synopsis

  Allen 317, WF 01:25 PM-02:40 PM

• ENGLISH 290S-1.01, SP TOP MEDIEVAL/EARLY MOD LIT Synopsis

  Allen 318, WF 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

  (also cross-listed as MEDREN 290S-1.01)

Education:

Ph.D.

Princeton University

2012

Keywords:

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

1. The Poetry Book (November, 2023), DK, ISBN 9780744080834  [abs]
2. Werlin, J, Early Stuart Clergyman Poets: A Prosopographic Approach, Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, vol. 52 no. 2 (January, 2022), pp. 335-360 [doi]
3. Werlin, J, The Age of the Author: Print and Precocity in the English Renaissance, Modern Language Quarterly, vol. 83 no. 3 (January, 2022), pp. 303-334 [doi]  [abs]
4. Werlin, J, An Accidental Genre, Novel, vol. 54 no. 3 (November, 2021), pp. 508-511, Duke University Press [doi]
5. Werlin, J, Writing at the Origin of Capitalism Literary Circulation and Social Change in Early Modern England (July, 2021), pp. 240 pages, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780192640758  [abs]