Meredith Farmer

Meredith Farmer is an Assistant Teaching Professor of English at Wake Forest University, with an affiliation to the Center of Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. She holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2016) and a BA from Kenyon College (2005). Her research focuses on Herman Melville’s engagement with science, particularly in works like Melville’s Leaks: Science, Materialism, and the Reconstitution of Persons (forthcoming, Northwestern University Press) and the edited collection Ahab Unbound: Melville and the Materialist Turn (2022).

Her academic interests include U.S. literature to 1900, the history of science, and the intersection of literature with environmental humanities. She has received fellowships from institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Her teaching spans courses like Environmental Destruction, Melville and His Moments, and Introduction to the Environmental Humanities.

Recent publications include essays on Melville’s scientific influences, such as his education under Joseph Henry at the Albany Academy, and critical analyses of Melville’s The Confidence-Man. Farmer’s work bridges literary analysis with interdisciplinary themes like materialism, climate studies, and the redefinition of personhood through scientific narratives.