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
Current and upcoming courses
Film Genre, Genre Films
CAMS324
We constantly describe films with labels like action, horror, rom-com, sci-fi, musical, western, but where do those categories come from, and how do we decide what belongs within them? This course will explore the concept of film genre in terms both theoretical and practical. We’ll examine the antecedents of cinema’s genre system in literary criticism, read key works of film genre theory, and watch films in a wide range of genres. Among the questions we’ll address are: How do ideas about genre help us understand the cinematic experience? How do genre categories influence the production and marketing of films, and the discourse around them? How do ideas about genre connect to social identities, such as race and gender, to create categories like “chick flick” or “Blaxploitation”? What criteria differentiate the genres we value from those we don’t?
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Great American Short Stories You Must Read
ENG128
We’ll read a selection of the best and most influential American short stories, and trace their influence on subsequent generations of storytellers, in both literature and film. We’ll consider what makes the stories we read effective, how later writers and filmmakers have revised and transformed these narratives, and how those revisions and transformations illuminate the workings of literary influence. We’ll read classic American short fiction like Edgar Allan Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” and Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” alongside later works that recall, subvert, and reimagine those narratives, from Alfonson Cuarón’s Gravity to Jennifer Egan’s “Safari” and beyond. -
Great American Short Stories You Must Read
ENG128H
We’ll read a selection of the best and most influential American short stories, and trace their influence on subsequent generations of storytellers, in both literature and film. We’ll consider what makes the stories we read effective, how later writers and filmmakers have revised and transformed these narratives, and how those revisions and transformations illuminate the workings of literary influence. We’ll read classic American short fiction like Edgar Allan Poe’s “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” and Willa Cather’s “Paul’s Case” alongside later works that recall, subvert, and reimagine those narratives, from Alfonson Cuarón’s Gravity to Jennifer Egan’s “Safari” and beyond.