John T. Matthews

John T. Matthews is a Professor in the Department of English at Boston University's College of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on American literature, modernist studies, and Southern literary traditions, with a specialization in William Faulkner's works. He has published extensively on Faulkner's linguistic experimentation, regional imagination, and historical context.

• Professor, Boston University
• Editor: The Faulkner Journal, New Cambridge Companion to William Faulkner
• Interdisciplinary collaboration with historian Nina Silber

His research explores how 19th- and 20th-century American fiction confronts racial capitalism and plantation economies. He has written influential books including The Play of Faulkner's Language (1982) and William Faulkner: Seeing Through the South (2009). Recent work examines cultural disavowal in Faulkner and Jesmyn Ward.

Publications reveal a focus on Faulkner's modernist techniques, media ecologies, and temporal experimentation. Articles span from 1980s analyses of Sanctuary to 2020s studies of racial capitalism, with recurring themes of economic critique and cultural memory.

Scientific Awards

• NEH Senior Research Fellow (1984–85, 1995–96)
• Henderson Senior Research Fellow (2006-7, 2014-15)
• Fulbright Lecturer (Charles University, 2010-11)
• Metcalf Award for Teaching Excellence (2006)
• President, The Faulkner Society (2006–2009)
• President, Society for the Study of Southern Literature (2014-2016)

Matthews has received multiple research fellowships and maintains an active teaching role while contributing to global Faulkner scholarship through editorial leadership and interdisciplinary collaborations.