Biography
Areas of Specialization
Literary Criticism and Theory, Intellectual History and Philosophy, Photographic Criticism and Theory
History and Philosophy of Science, Computers and Knowledge Representation
American Literature, Modern poetry, Comparative Romanticism, Music and Poetry
Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Coleridge, Charles Sanders Peirce
Blake, Hawthorne, Whitman, Melville, Henry James, William Carlos Williams, Faulkner
Activities and Interests
In collaboration with Hazard Adams, Searle has edited Critical Theory since 1965 (1985) and Critical Theory since Plato 3rd edition (2005); and with Raimonda Modiano and Peter Shillingsburg, Voice, Text and Hypertext (2004). He was the founding director of the UW Humanities and Arts Computing Center (now DX-Arts); Former Director of the Walter Chapin Simpson Humanities Center; and Director of the College Studies Program. He is one of the founding members of the faculty of the Comparative History of Ideas Program, as well as the Program in Criticism and Theory, and the Textual Studies Program. He has also served as Graduate Program Coordinator in Comparative Literature for several terms, and is an original member and current chair of the UW Intellectual Property Management Advisory Committee.
In addition to these academic interests, he actively is involved in music (arranging, composing, and performance) and poetry.
Work in Progress
- Plato, Aristotle, and the Poets
- Visible Intelligence: Essays on Photography, Theory and Criticism
- Imaginative Reason: Essays in Philosophical Criticism
Research
Selected Research
- Leroy Searle. “From Inference to Insight: a Peircean Model of Literary Reasoning.” MLN 123 (2008), 1006-1038.
- Leroy Searle. “Prospects for Theorizing.” Works and Days 49-50, Vol 25 (2007), 37-79 (published 2009).
- Leroy Searle. “Literature Departments and the Practice of Theory.” MLN 121 (2006), 1237-61.
- Leroy Searle. “Textual Authority, Textual Integrity: The Cultural Importance of Editorial Ethics.” Text of Power, the Power of the Text. Ed. By Cezary Galewicz. Homini. (2006), 15-34.
- Leroy Searle. “Concerning the Power of the Preposition: The Photographs of Nathan Lyons.” Afterimage 1-1-2004.
- Leroy Searle. “Technology and the Perils of Poetry; or Why Criticism Never Catches Up.” MLN 118 (2004), 1177-92.
Research Advised
- Oliver, Jacob Skylar. Judgment, Trust, and Common Sense in American Literature. 2023. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Hushagen, Sam. Formal Prospects: The Long Poem After Milton. 2019. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Milian, Patrick. Intermedial Modernism: Music, Dance, and Sound. 2019. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Tavlin, Zachary. Glancing Visions: American Literature Beyond the Gaze. 2018. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Alexandra Deem, "The Black Cook and the Tin Drum: Intimate Ethics in Literature," 2014.
- Speser, Arendt Oak. Round Song: Narrative Bibliography and the Living Archive. 2013. University of Washington, PhD dissertation.
- Walker, James Cody. O Ho Alas Alas: Poetry and Difficult Laughter. 2004. University of Washington, PhD dissertation,