Lee Scrivner | |
Birth Date: | 10 February 1971 |
Birth Place: | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
Occupation: | Adjunct professor at American University |
Nationality: | American |
Education: | University of Utah |
Alma Mater: | University of London |
Period: | –present |
Genre: | Humanities, English literature |
Subject: | Phenomenology, Ironic process theory, Philosophy of science, Philosophy of mind, Confirmation bias, Suggestibility, Sleep and Insomnia, History of medicine, History of psychology, Victorian, Modernism, Art manifesto |
Notableworks: | Becoming Insomniac (2014) The Sound Moneyfesto (2008) How to Write an Avant-Garde Manifesto (2008) |
Lee Scrivner (born February 10, 1971) is an American writer and cultural theorist known for his book Becoming Insomniac (2014) and for his satirical avant-garde art manifestos. He writes on the literature, history, and culture of the Victorian and Modernist periods, as well as on contemporary issues.
Scrivner was born in Winnipeg to American parents and was raised in Las Vegas, where he attended Bonanza High School. He received a BA and an MA in English from the University of Utah. He taught English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas from 2001 to 2005, after which he pursued doctoral research under Steven Connor at the University of London. From 2007 to 2008, he lectured in the English department at Birkbeck College. He was a Fulbright lecturer in the humanities at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. Since August 2015, he has taught at American University in Washington D.C.
Scrivner's creative work includes writing art manifestos and theatrical performances that incorporate live music and pre-recorded video. His work often deploys satire, anachronism, mock solemnity, and paradox.
Scrivner has released two albums of music with his band Inviolet Row, Consolation Prizes (2002) and Nevertheless (2005). He has also been involved in musical projects with Voiceworks (a collaboration between Wigmore Hall, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Birkbeck Contemporary Poetics Research Centre).
Becoming Insomniac: How Sleeplessness Alarmed Modernity (2014, Palgrave Macmillan).
“That Sweet Secession: Sleep and Insomnia in Western Literature” in Sleep: Multi-Professional Perspectives, Andrew Green, Alex Westcombe, Ved Varma eds., (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2012).
""Manifest-o-Meter," in Manifesto Marathon, Serpentine Gallery (Köln: Walther König, 2010).
“The Echo of Narcissism in Interactive Art" in Literatures in the Digital Era: Theory and Praxis, Amelia Sanz, Dolores Romero eds., (2007)
Scrivner's poetry, short fiction, and academic writing have been published in Poet Lore, The Wolf, Teller (a magazine of stories distributed by Trolley Books), Otis Nebula, History Workshop Journal, and Modern Language Review.