Christopher Nealon

Christopher Nealon is the John Dewey Professor of English at Johns Hopkins University, part of the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. His work bridges literary studies, political economy, and queer theory, focusing on American literature, poetry, and the intersections of capitalism and cultural production. He holds a PhD from Cornell University (1997) and previously taught at UC Berkeley (1996–2008).

Nealon’s research examines how literature engages with economic systems, particularly through his books Foundlings (2001), The Matter of Capital (2011), and Infinity for Marxists (2023). He co-edited After Marx (2022) and authored five poetry collections, including All About You (2024), which engages with antihumanist critiques.

His Mellon Sawyer Seminar (2012–2014) explored 21st-century capitalism, and his current work interrogates the evolution of antihumanism from conservative to progressive intellectual projects. Nealon’s interdisciplinary approach integrates Marxist theory, poetics, and intellectual history to analyze value, crisis, and cultural production.