Brian Jansen is the Humanities Specialist for the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine and a part-time lecturer in the Departments of English and Communication and Journalism. A former technical writer, copywriter, editorial assistant, automotive assembly line worker, and community college faculty member, Brian holds degrees in English Literature (PhD, University of Calgary), Creative Writing (MA, University of Windsor), and Rhetoric and Professional Writing (BA Honors, University of Waterloo).

Brian’s scholarly interests focus broadly on contemporary American literatures and cultures, with particular interest on aesthetic production at the intersection of labor and capital. His work—addressing American literary figures such as David Foster Wallace, George Saunders, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Vladimir Nabokov, and topics ranging from Young Adult literature to professional wrestling—has appeared in journals including Comparative American Studies, the Canadian Review of American Studies, Orbit: A Journal of American Literature, the Journal of Popular Culture, The European Journal of American Studies, and other venues. The Canadian Association for American Studies awarded Jansen the 2020 Ernest Redekop Prize for the best essay in volume 50 (2020) of the Canadian Review of American Studies for his article “’It’s Still Real to Me’: Contemporary Professional Wrestling, Neo-Liberalism, and the Problems of Performed/Real Violence.”