Renée Bergland is the Program Director of Literature and Writing. She teaches the introductory course (LTWR 199 Approaches to Literature), the capstone course (LTWR 390 Advanced Seminar in Literature and Writing), and a bit of everything in between.
Bergland is a literary critic and a historian of science who is passionately interested in the nuts and bolts of writing craft.
Bergland published Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science (April 2024). Her earlier books are Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer Among the American Romantics and The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects. With Gary Williams, she edited Philosophies of Sex: Critical Essays on The Hermaphrodite. She has published articles, essays, and reviews in American Literary History, ESQ, SIGNS, The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, ISIS, Legacy, Nautilus, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Emily Dickinson Journal, Women’s Studies, and the Journal of American History, among others. You can find some reviews of her books and a few interviews on her website.
In her writing, Bergland tells stories that connect history to the present day. In her own life, she is an environmentalist and an anti-racist feminist who loves poetry and politics as much as she loves science and mathematics. As an undergraduate at St. John’s College, Bergland read “The Great Books.” Her graduate training at Columbia University emphasized comparatist approaches to literature and culture. She is particularly interested in making interdisciplinary connections between STEM and the humanities.
Bergland started teaching at Simmons in 1999. She has also researched and taught at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, MIT, the University of Bergen, The University of New Hampshire, and Boston University. She has received major fellowships from the Sloan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Fulbright Program and research support from the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Emily Dickinson International Society, the Nantucket Historical Society, and the Boston Athenaeum.
Education
- PhD, English and Comparative Literature, from Columbia University, New York, New York
- BA, St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland
Renee Bergland in the News
The Boston Globe Praises Literature Professor’s Daring New Book
A recent article in The Boston Globe commends Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2024) by Professor of Literature and Writing Renée Bergland.
Shout-outs from Students and Alums
Get Into Trouble: Alum-Owned Bar Lands on Esquire's List of Top 27 in America
Gender and cultural studies alum, Kaitlyn Soligan Owens '12MA tells us about her journey into founding the successful Louisville haunt, Trouble Bar, and why it was important for her to build a safe, inclusive and comfortable space.