James Garey
Assistant Professor of English
Department(s)
EnglishCredentials
PhD, English Literature, Baylor University
BA, English & Philosophy, Covenant College
About James Garey
Dr. Wesley Garey is an Assistant Professor of English at Charleston Southern University. He grew up in Decatur, GA, before moving to Waco, TX, where he earned his Ph.D. from Baylor University in 2020. His research focuses on Renaissance epics, especially the connections between poetics, rhetoric, and theology in the works of John Milton and Lucy Hutchinson. Dr. Garey joined the faculty of CSU in 2021, and he teaches Renaissance Literature, Early English Literature, World Literature I, and Composition and Literature, among other courses. His favorite part of teaching is helping students discover the truth, goodness, and beauty found in great literature of both the past and the present. When he’s not teaching, reading, or writing, Dr. Garey enjoys listening to jazz, exploring the Lowcountry, and lots of strong coffee.
"I go the extra mile for my students by having one-on-one meetings with each student about all their major essays in their first composition class at CSU. In this way, I let students know—from the beginning of their time at CSU—that they have a professor who cares about them as individual people and wants to help them succeed and flourish here. These meetings not only help students improve their essays, but also show students that faculty are approachable and want to help students thrive. While students at larger universities can feel anonymous and overlooked, every CSU student should know that their faculty know them and care about them as individuals, so the time these meetings takes is absolutely worth it for me."
Awards
Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship in English, Baylor University, 2020-2021
Teaching Capstone in Higher Education (TeaCHE), Baylor University, April 2019
Baylor University Graduate School Fellowship, 2013-2018
Signature Experiences
Renaissance Society of America
Milton Society of America
South-Central Renaissance Association
Conference on Christianity and Literature
Recent Scholarly Work & Publications
Publications:
“Rewriting Epic and Redefining Glory in Lucy Hutchinson’s Order and Disorder.” Christianity and Literature, vol. 69, no. 3, 2020, pp. 399-417.
Selected Presentations
“ ‘Concealed in types and shadows’: Lucy Hutchinson, the Emblem-Book Tradition, and Early Modern Hermeneutics.” South-West Conference on Christianity and Literature, online, October 2021
“ ‘In every leaf, lectures of providence’: Lucy Hutchinson, Natural Theology, and the Emblem-Book Tradition.” South-Central Renaissance Conference, online, March 2021
“Rewriting Virgilian Prophecy in Early Modern Biblical Epic,” 2020 Texmoot, Houston Baptist University, February 2020
“ ‘These Rules Will Render Thee a King Complete’: Epideictic Rhetoric and Princely Education in Milton’s Paradise Regained,” South-Central Renaissance Conference, Texas Tech University, April 2019
“Transforming Lucretius in Lucy Hutchinson’s Order and Disorder,” 2019 Braniff Conference in the Liberal Arts, University of Dallas, February 2019
“Arranging Divine and Human Speech in Lucy Hutchinson’s Order and Disorder,” 2019 Texmoot, Baylor University, January 2019
“Saints’ Lives and Liturgical Instruction for the Laity in John Mirk’s Festial,” Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, Baylor University, October 2017
“ ‘The beste rym I can’: Authorship, Performance, and the Sociable Text in Chaucer’s Sir Thopas,” 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 2016
“Geffrey among the Poets: Intertextuality and Authority in Chaucer’s House of Fame,” 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 2015