Sean O'Toole
Professor
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences
Department: English
Areas of expertise: Nineteenth-century British and Anglophone literatures, queer theories, writing studies
Email Address: sean.otoole@baruch.cuny.edu
- Biography
- Research and Creative Activity
- Honors and Awards
Sean O'Toole is a professor of English specializing in nineteenth-century British literature, queer studies, and college writing. A graduate of Georgetown University (B.A.) and the City University of New York Graduate Center (Ph.D.), he was a post-doctoral lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program before joining the Baruch faculty in 2008. In 2012, he participated in the NEH summer seminar “Oscar Wilde and His Circle” at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA.
He is the author of Dorian Unbound: Transnational Decadence and the Wilde Archive (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023), Habit in the English Novel, 1850-1900 (Palgrave, 2013), and a new edition of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray forthcoming from the Norton Library in 2024. His work has also been published in Victorian Literature and Culture, The Henry James Review, the Journal of the History of Sexuality, the Yearbook of English Studies, and elsewhere.
Professor O'Toole teaches British and Irish literature, the nineteenth-century novel, world literature, writing, and various special-topics courses. He will be on fellowship leave during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Education
Ph.D., English, CUNY Graduate Center
B.A., Government, English, Georgetown University
Books
O'Toole, S. T. (2025). Edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde for Norton Library (under contract).
O'Toole, S. T. (2023). Dorian Unbound: Transnational Decadence and the Wilde Archive. (p. 192). Johns Hopkins University Press.
O'Toole, S. (2013). Habit in the English Novel, 1850-1900: Lived Environments, Practices of the Self. (p. 224 pp). Basingstoke, UK and New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal Articles
O'Toole, S. (2020). The Letters of Ethyl Smyth to Edith Somerville, 1918-1921: A Chronicle of Desire. Journal of the History of Sexuality, 29(2). 253-280.
O'Toole, S. (2019). Epigrammatic Inheritance: 'Writing in Lightning' in Meredith, Wilde, and Le Gallienne. The Yearbook of English Studies (invited essay; forthcoming in fall 2019), 49. 155-172.
O'Toole, S. (2012). Queer Properties: Passion and Possession in The Spoils of Poynton. The Henry James Review, 33(1). 30-52.
O'Toole, S. (2011). Meredithian Slips: Embodied Dispositions and Narrative Form in The Egoist. Victorian Literature and Culture, 39. 499-524.
Book Chapters
O'Toole, S. T. (2024). 'Fantastic Shadows’: Generic Hybridity and the Aesthetics of Queer Form (under contract). In Kaye, R. A. (Ed.), 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' in the Twenty-First Century Oxford University Press.
O'Toole, S. T. (2018). Oscar Wilde's American Forebears: A Genealogy of Form for Reading 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. Wilde's Other Worlds (pp. 40-59). New York and London: Routledge.
Presentations
O'Toole, S. (2024, June 12). Invited Talk: Oscar Wilde, Sexuality, and the State. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. In Progress.
O'Toole, S. (2021, May 31). Dorian Gray’s Romantic Origins and the Specter of Anglo-Irish History. Annual CUNY Victorian Conference: On Hard Border(s): Ireland and the British Question. : The Graduate Center.
O'Toole, S. (2019, October 31). 'Terror has no diary': The Irish Gothic as Decadent Archive. North American Victorian Studies Association. Columbus, OH: NAVSA.
O'Toole, S. (2018, October 31). Backward Glances, Curious Styles: Meredith, Wilde, Le Gallienne (in absentia due to Hurricane Michael). North American Victorian Studies Association. St. Petersburg, FL: University of Florida.
O'Toole, S. (2016, June 30). The Wilde Intertext: Self-Citation in The Picture of Dorian Gray. International Conference on Narrative. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
O'Toole, S. (2015, March 26). Locating the 'Middle Nation': Speculative Identities in the Fiction of Somerville and Ross. American Conference for Irish Studies. Fort Lauderdale, FL: University of Miami.
O'Toole, S. (2015, July 31). Meredith, Wit, Wilde. George Meredith and His Circle. Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln, UK
O'Toole, S. (2015, June 30). Mórrígans, Man-Eaters, and Curious Sons: Queer Relations in Somerville and Ross. British Women Writers Conference. New York, NY: CUNY Graduate Center / Columbia University.
O'Toole, S. (2014, June 12). Wilde, International: Sidonia the Sorceress and The Picture of Dorian Gray. American Conference for Irish Studies. Ireland: University College, Dublin.
O'Toole, S. (2014, March 4). The Sources of Dorian Gray. Eugene M. Lang Faculty Research Fellows Lunch. New York: Baruch College, CUNY.
O'Toole, S. (2014, January 12). Cosmopolitan Wilde. Modern Language Association Conference. Chicago, IL: MLA.
O'Toole, S. (2014, June 13). Wilde’s Americans. Société Oscar Wilde Conference. Paris, France: Centre Culturel Irlandais.
O'Toole, S. (2013, June 27). Painted Betrayals: Magical Portraits Before Wilde. International Conference on Narrative. Manchester, UK: Manchester Metropolitan University.
O'Toole, S. (2013, October 24). Wilde's Sources: Poe's Portraits, James's Artist-Tales. North American Victorian Studies Association Conference. Pasadena, CA: USC Dornsife.
O'Toole, S. (2012, September 7). In the Wilde Archives. Columbia University Irish Studies Seminar. New York, NY
O'Toole, S. (2012, March 24). Internal Geographies: Anglo-Irish Identity in The Real Charlotte. Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky.
O'Toole, S. (2012, September 29). 'Fantastic Shadows': Dorian Gray and the Aesthetics of Dissident Form. North American Victorian Studies Association Conference. University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI: NAVSA.
O'Toole, S. (2011, April 10). Dickens and the Psychology of Habit: Repetition and Change in Little Dorrit. International Conference on Narrative. St. Louis, MO: Washington University.
O'Toole, S. (2010, April 10). Scenes of Habitual Life: Narrative Interruption in George Eliot's The Lifted Veil. International Conference on Narrative. Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University.
O'Toole, S. (2006, February 18). Mind in Movement: Embodied Dispositions in The Egoist. Dickens Project Winter Conference. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA.
O'Toole, S. (2006, April 5). Dickens and Repetition. CUNY Victorian Seminar. New York, NY
O'Toole, S. (2005, April 17). The Egoist Becomes a Play: Collaborative Authorship and the Late-Victorian Literary Marketplace. Northeastern Victorian Studies Association Annual Conference. Washington, DC: American University.
O'Toole, S. (2004, November 30). The Decoration of Houses: Henry James's Queer Properties. Exposing the Nineteenth Century: Interiors, Interiority, Introspection. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
Other Scholarly Works
O'Toole, S. (2000). Andy Warhol. The Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. 631-32.
Reviews
O'Toole, S. (1970,January 1). Rev. of Sexual Restraint and Aesthetic Experience in Victorian Literary Decadence by Sarah Green (Cambridge, 2023).. Victorian Studies. In Progress.
O'Toole, S. (2023,July 20). Rev. of Oscar Wilde on Trial: The Criminal Proceedings from Arrest to Imprisonment by Joseph Bristown (Yale UP, 2022). Modern Philology.
O'Toole, S. (2020,October 1). Rev. of Civic Identity and Public Space: Belfast since 1780; and of Literacy, Language, and Reading in Nineteenth-Century Ireland. Victorian Studies.
O'Toole, S. (2005,January 1). Rev. of Beloved Boy: Letters to Hendrick C. Anderson, 1899-1915. USA: College English Association Forum.
O'Toole, S. (2005,January 1). Rev. of The Violet Hour: The Violet Quill and the Making of Gay Culture. USA: Journal of the History of Sexuality .
O'Toole, S. (2004,January 1). Rev. of American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy and the Science of Nationalism. gender forum.
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-Career Faculty Fellowship | Office of Academic Affairs, CUNY Central | 2019 | |
| Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching Nominee | Baruch College, CUNY | 2015 | |
| Center for Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship | Baruch College, CUNY | 2014 | |
| Eugene M Lang Junior Faculty Research Fellowship | Baruch College, CUNY | 2013 | |
| NEH Summer Seminar: Oscar Wilde and His Circle | William Andrew Clark Library, UCLA | 2012 | |
| Tuck Award for Scholarly Travel | Princeton University | 2011 | |
| CUNY Faculty Fellowship Publications Program | Office of the Dean of Recruitment and Diversity | 2010 | |
| Paul Monette Prize for the Best Dissertation in Gay and Lesbian Studies | PhD Program in English, CUNY Graduate Center | 2006 | |
| Alumni and Faculty Dissertation Year Award | CUNY Graduate Center | 2005 | |
| University Fellowship | CUNY Graduate Center | 1998 | |
| Passed PhD Comprehensive Exam, with Distinction | CUNY Graduate Center | 1997 | |
| Phi Beta Kappa | Georgetown University | 1994 |