Russell Samolsky is associate professor of Anglophone literature in the English Department here at UCSB. His research interests include South African literature, Jewish Studies, Animal Studies, Deconstruction, Materialisms, and the Global Humanities. His book, Apocalyptic Futures: Marked Bodies and the Violence of the Text in Kafka, Conrad, and Coetzee, takes account of the complex relationship between past apocalyptic texts and future catastrophic events and works to offer a messianic counter-time against apocalyptic futures. He is currently at work on a monograph on J. M. Coetzee, as well as a book on the place of animals, particularly dogs, in contemporary literature.