Dan Burns
Associate Professor of English
Department: English
Email: dburns2@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-5814
Professional Expertise
Links
News & Notes
Education
Ph.D., English, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
M.A., English, Clemson University
B.A., Psychology, Clemson University
Employment History
ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, Department of English: associate professor (2026-); assistant professor (2020-2026); visiting assistant professor (2017-2020); adjunct assistant professor (2016-2017); visiting instructor (2012-2015); adjunct instructor (2006-2008).
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of English: graduate instructor of record (2008-2013).
Greensboro College, Department of English, Communication & Media Studies: visiting instructor (2003-2006).
Clemson University, Department of English: instructor (2001-2002); graduate instructor of record (1999-2000); Department of Communication: adjunct instructor (2000-2001).
Courses Taught
At ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ
ENG 4970: Literature Senior Seminar; ENG 3700: Jewish American Literature after 1945; ENG 3640: Film Criticism; ENG 3510: The Novel; ENG 2250: African American Literature before 1945; ENG 2240: American Literature after 1865; ENG 1725: Stephen King; ENG 1230: The Social Thriller; ENG 1235: Cult Classics, Literary Trash; ENG 1232: Literature on Screen; ENG 1100: Writing: Argument and Inquiry; GFC 2100: Introduction to Global Film & Cultures; GFC 4970: Global Film & Cultures Capstone.
Leadership Positions
Coordinator, Literature Concentration, Department of English, 2026-
Secretary, , 2025-
Co-coordinator, Global Film & Cultures Minor, 2023-26
Co-advisor, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College Fellows Living Learning Community, 2022-25
Grants Awarded
Recent Grants
ECAS Dean Mini Grant, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts & Sciences, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2026.
Read On ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Book Club, Phi Beta Kappa (φβK), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ College, the College of Arts & Sciences, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2025.
Winter Term Enhancement Grant, Center for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning (CATL), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2025.
Faculty Engagement Grant, Committee on ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ History & Memory (CEHM), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2024.
Best Practices in Writing Pedagogy Grant, “Teaching Best Practices through Multimodal Composing: The Videographic Essay,” Center for Writing Excellence (CWE), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2022.
Teaching and Learning Grant, “Team-Teaching to Promote Cross-Disciplinary Learning in the Undergraduate Film & Media Analysis Classroom,” Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2022.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
"Kafkan Attention and Distraction in Orson Welles's The Trial." , in press, 2026.
“Introduction to Focus: Recovering the Big Read.” , 2016, pp. 4-5. Guest-edited special-topic issue. Commissioned contributions, wrote introductory essay, worked with editorial staff, etc. Invited.
Peer-Reviewed Volume Chapters
“Media Saturation and Pop Culture.” The Oxford Handbook of Postmodernisms, edited by Paul Giles, Mary Holland, and Christian Moraru, Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2027. Invited.
"Voice v. Vision: Adapting If Beale Street Could Talk Across Two Eras." , edited by Yasmin Y. DeGout, Anna Pochmara, and Tyechia L. Thompson, Routledge, 2026, pp. 406-417.
“Chaplin’s Social Text: Pathos as Polemic in Easy Street.” , edited by Robert McParland, Cambridge Scholars, 2013, pp. 144-150.
“On the U.S. Reception of L’insurrection qui vient.” , edited by Elisabeth Boulot, L’Harmattan, 2011, pp. 155-178. Invited.
Reviews
Review of Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay. American Book Review, vol. 47, no. 2, Summer 2026. Invited.
“Precipice Poetics.” Review of Tenth of December by George Saunders. , 2013, pp. 5-6. Invited.
Presentations
Recent Conference Presentations
“The Wonderful World as It Actually Is: Deep Gossip and the Drama of Duration in Peter Hujar’s Day." Literature/Film Association (). ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, NC, Forthcoming October 2026.
“Collaboration Across Demarcation: Outsider Theory in Rodney Ascher’s Room 237.” The LFA/AAS Online Conference. Literature/Film Association and the Association of Adaptation Studies, February 2026.
“‘An Immense Spiritual Dread of Space’: The Meaning of Miniaturism in Ari Aster’s Hereditary.” Literature/Film Association (LFA). Georgia Southern University, Savannah, GA, September 2025.
“Queer Kinship and the ‘Unfamilied Child’ in Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers.” Adaptation and Aging. The LFA/AAS Online Conference. Literature/Film Association and the Association of Adaptation Studies, February 2025.
“Beyond Empathy in the Civil Rights Biopic: The ‘Thick Solidarity’ of Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah.” Literature/Film Association (LFA). York University of Pennsylvania, York, PA, September 2024.
“‘…since this door was intended only for you…’: Spectatorial Subjectivity in Orson Welles’ The Trial.” Writerly Worlds and Worldly Writers: Transcultural Receptions of German Writers. American Comparative Literature Association Conference (). Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada, March 2024. Invited.
“Seriality and Sustain: The Resistance to ‘Assigned Streaming’ in a Binge-worthy Era.” Co-presented with Kai Swanson. Adapting in and Out of the Classroom. The LFA/AAS Online Conference. Literature/Film Association and the Association of Adaptation Studies, February 2024.
Mapping the Maximalist Novel, Roundtable Discussion, Modern Language Association Convention (MLA). Philadelphia, PA, January 2024.
“Direction as Data Extraction: Surveilling Behavioral Surplus in Joseph Kosinski's Spiderhead.” Co-presented with Kai Swanson. Literature/Film Association Conference (LFA). University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, September 2023.
“Cross-Disciplinary Strategies for Engaged Learning: Partnering Language and Visual Tools for Course Design.” Co-presented with Kai Swanson. ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ Teaching and Learning Conference, Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, NC, June 2023.
“Too Big to Fail: Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life and the Art of Excess in the Age of Inclusion.” Twenty-First-Century Forms, Roundtable Discussion, Modern Language Association (MLA). San Francisco, CA, January 2023.
Professional Activities
Walker, Elsie. “Episode 6: Dan Burns on Petite Maman.” , Substack, 21 Jan. 2025, .
Peer Review Panelist: , Awards for Faculty Program, American Literature, Language, and Studies (2023).
Editorial Referee: ; ; ; ; .
Service Activities
German Studies Advisory Board, Department of World Languages & Cultures, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2025-
Programming Committee (with Sandy Marshall and Binnan Gao), Global Neighborhood Film Series, 2022-
Academic Standing Committee, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2024-26.
Library Committee, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2022-24.
Professional Development
Leadership Education Faculty Scholars, 2026-27.
First-Year Experience (FYE) Community of Practice, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2024-25.
Faculty Mentor, Preparing Future Faculty (), The Graduate School, Duke University, 2023-24.
Advancing Equity Summer Institute, Office of the Provost/Academic Inclusive Excellence, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2023.
Summer Writing Pedagogy Institute, Center for Writing Excellence, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ, 2022, 2023.