Vernon Shetley
Professor of English
Links
Studies and teaches American poetry and film, focusing particularly on the postwar and contemporary periods.
My book Dark Film, Blood Money: The Economic Unconscious of American Neo-Noir Cinema (forthcoming from Intellect Books in 2026), explores noir filmmaking from the 1970s to the present, with a particular focus on the representation of economics within these films. Neo-noir, as I understand it, constitutes a powerful, if often oblique, representation of transformations in the economic and social life of the United States as postwar prosperity gave way to stagnation, alienation, and perceptions of crisis and decline.
I’ve published essays on a range of film- and poetry-related topics, including Scarlett Johansson’s sci-fi films, the horror film The Entity, and contemporary political poetry, as well as a discussion of the choreographer Merce Cunningham. I’m particularly proud of having co-authored articles with two former students, an interpretation of Blade Runner with Alissa Ferguson Phillips ‘97, and an exploration of the Olsen Twins’ late work with Lena McCauley ’10.
I teach a wide range of courses, from first-year writing to advanced courses on literature and film. In recent years, I've taught courses on literary theory, postwar poetry, and American short stories on the literature side, and courses on film noir, horror, and contemporary global cinema on the cinema side, as well as a section of first-year writing focused on romantic comedy. In 2025-26 I’ll be teaching a new course on Alfred Hitchcock.
Education
- B.A., Princeton University
- M.A., Columbia University in the City of New York
- M.Phil, Columbia University in the City of New York
- Ph.D., Columbia University in the City of New York