Career
Shell is one of the forerunners, along with Jean-Joseph Goux and others, of the literary-critical movement that has been dubbed "New Economic Criticism." His contributions to the study of relations between linguistic and literary economies are encompassed in several influential books, including The Economy of Literature (Johns Hopkins University Press 1978). Money, Language, and Thought: Literary and Philosophical Economies from the Medieval to the Modern Era (University of California Berkeley 1982). Art and Money (University of Chicago Press 1995).
Forthcoming works in this area include the following: Wampum and the Origin of American Money (University of Illinois Press, 2013).
The Painting in the Trash Bin: Otis Kaye and the Perplexities of Art (Chicago, forthcoming). Many are concerned with the European Renaissance.
These include: The End of Kinship: "Measure for Measure," Incest, and the Ideal of Universal Siblinghood (Stanford 1988). Children of the Earth: Literature, Politics, and Nationhood (Oxford 1993).
Elizabeth"s Glass: With "The Glass of the Sinful Soul" (1544) by Elizabeth I and "Epistle Dedicatory" and "Conclusion" (1548) by John Bale (Nebraska 1995).
Relevant books about translation, language policy, and bilingualism include: The Multilingual Anthology of American Literature (New York University ed 2000). American Babel: Literatures of the United States from Abnaki to Zuni (Harvard ed 2002). Disability studies: Shell"s books in disability studies include works about paralysis and stuttering.
Polio and its Aftermath (Harvard 2005).
Stutter (Harvard 2006). Canada and the United States: Shell"s writings about Canada and the United States include: French-Canadian / American Literary Relations (McGill French Canada Studies Centre 1968).
Grand Manan: or, A Short History of North America (McGill-Queens 2015 forthcoming).