Spring e-Quarterly Out Now

What is our new Assistant Professor Amit Yahav reading (besides the 18th century)? What new books are out from faculty, students, and alums? How is English participating in Northrop Auditorium's Grand Reopening? Find out in the new issue of our alumnae/i newsletter, e-Quarterly.

5 X Friday: PhD Candidate Caitlin McHugh

This spring Caitlin McHugh won the Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, which allows her to take a break from teaching in 2013-14 to focus on finishing her dissertation. "I have two more chapters left to write," she explains. "I also need to travel to the Folger Shakespeare Library [in Washington D.C.] to look at a seventeenth-century prompt book, and the fellowship gives the time and the funds that I need to do so." A "prompt book" is a copy of a play production script that includes cues for speech, sound, and light; stage directions; and drawings of the set, among other essential information. McHugh's dissertation focuses on adaptations of Shakespeare in the Restoration era, which she feels have been unfairly maligned. This July, she'll be presenting her paper "The Linguistic Adaptation of Nahum Tate's King Lear," in Ann Arbor, Michigan, thanks to a travel grant she was awarded through the Association for Documentary Editing. More . . . .

1. What drew you to Minnesota?
I was looking for a PhD program that would offer me a lot of early modern faculty to work with, and I was looking for faculty members who would support my project on late seventeenth-century adaptations of Shakespeare. In particular, I really wanted to work with Katherine Scheil and John Watkins. It was a delight to visit Minnesota and discover firsthand what lovely people the faculty members are. Reading their work and meeting them in person made choosing a PhD program easy.
2. How did you become interested in your dissertation topic, entitled "The Afterlife of Shakespeare's Tragedies 1600-1700"?
My interest in late seventeenth-century adaptations of Shakespeare began in my MA program at Kent State University. I took a class on Restoration Shakespeare with Don-John Dugas, and I immediately felt that there was just a huge amount of research potential in that field. I was intrigued because late seventeenth-century adaptations of Shakespeare have such poor reputations: they have the "double whammy," so to speak, of not only being produced and written in a period that is sometimes described as crass and/or immoral, but also being adaptations, especially of an author so canonical as Shakespeare. As such, they are often treated as inferior versions of their originals. I strongly felt that many contemporary scholars neglected to recognize the merit of these works in their own right and to treat them individually. I wanted to see what I could add to the field. As of right now, my project is examining both adapted and unadapted Shakespearean tragedies in the context of the theory of tragedy in the late seventeenth century. I am exploring how aesthetic theories combine with economic realities as a justification for the stage in a period when it is by no means secure.
My passion for this topic was only enhanced when I took a class on Shakespeare in Performance with Dr. Scheil. That class helped me see that the adaptations I wanted to study had many performance issues as well, which prompted me to think how a performance could impact an adaptation and vice versa.
3. Two years ago you taught a summer session Shakespeare course, and this summer you're teaching Shakespeare through an online distance learning course. How receptive to the Bard do you find Minnesota undergraduates?
No matter what the method of delivery is, I always find that students are split in their opinions: they either love the Bard, or they are extremely skeptical about the value of reading work that is over 400 years old. I find that the best approach, and this goes for any type of literature, is to show my passion about the subject. I have always loved Shakespeare and found reading his works to be a very natural experience. I grew up in a family of readers, and one of my aunts teaches literature at a university. I think bringing my point of view to the students and being very open and accepting of their reading experiences is one of the best ways to make them, in turn, more willing and open in their educational experience. I win many of them over, and the ones that I don't at least have a better understanding of their perspective and still want to have a conversation about their experiences reading and viewing Shakespeare.
4. You're a member of the student-led Medieval and Early Modern Research Group (MEMRG). What role has that subfield played in your studies here?
MEMRG is another reason why I wanted to come to Minnesota. It is rare to be able to enter into a cohort of people in your area who are so welcoming and supportive. As a scholar, you know that you have a group of people to talk to who share your experiences. Each year, we typically invite one professor from outside the University to come give a lecture on his or her current work, we organize a roundtable presentation for one of our medieval or early modern faculty, and we host a spring colloquium to give our members a chance to share their work. MEMRG hits just the right balance between community and professional development.
5. It's been a typical day of grading papers, researching, and writing. How do you unwind?
I love to attend a variety of performances: plays, rock concerts, musical theater, comedy shows, opera, anything. Obviously, I enjoy seeing early modern plays performed, and there are a shocking number of opportunities to experience early modern drama here in Minnesota. But I'm open-minded, and I like to see a good variety of theater and music, and this city makes that experience really affordable to me as a graduate student. There are public rush lines at the Guthrie Theater and at the Minnesota Opera: anyone can buy unsold seats for a discount right before the show starts. There are many small theaters that have "Pay What You Can" performances. And there are free park performances. What more could you want?
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Cheers to Successful PhD Candidates

Between March and May, nine PhD candidates successfully defended their dissertations. Congratulations to Tai Coleman, Renee DeLong, Will Kanyusik, Eun Joo Kim, Chris Larkin, Heather McNeff, John Pistelli, Adam Schrag, Maurits van Bever Donker, and Jewon Woo!

Dislocate Magazine New Issue

dislocate, the literary and arts magazine produced by English graduate students, celebrates its ninth issue, entitled Atlas of the Midwest. "A body is a country with borders in crisis," write editors (and MFA candidates) Jennifer Fossenbell and Nasir Sakandar. "Together we are always making, and these made things are maps of our many countries." Featured artists and writers in the issue include Barrie Jean Borich, Wing Young Huie, Ed Bok Lee, and Ernest Williamson III. Ask for a free issue at a Twin Cities independent bookstore.

Woo Defense

Doctoral candidate Jewon Woo will defend her dissertation, "Performing Bodies and Performative Texts: The Bodily Culture of the Antebellum United States and Fleshy Writing," as directed by Dr. Josephine Lee and Dr. Michelle Wright, on Thursday, May 30, in Lind 202. All are welcome for the public portion of the defense from 10-11 am.

Kim Defense

Doctoral candidate Eun Joo Kim will defend her dissertation, "Unreading Multilingualisms of the Korean Diaspora," as directed by Dr. Josephine Lee, on Wednesday, May 22 in Lind 207A. All are welcome for the public portion of the defense from 9-10 am.

Students Receive Research Support

Two PhD candidates were awarded Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships for 2012-13: Sunyoung Ahn (adviser: Tim Brennan) and Will Kanyusik (adviser: Siobhan Craig). In addition, six PhD and MFA candidates received financial support this summer through the Graduate Research Partnership Program: Sunyoung Ahn (advised by Tim Brennan), Sally Franson (Charles Baxter), Andrew Marzoni (Siobhan Craig), Caitlin McHugh (Katherine Scheil), Trenton Olson (Andy Elfenbein), and Kerry Voigt (Ray Gonzalez). In addition, the MFA program awarded CLA research/travel fellowships to Aaron Apps, Christine Friedlander, and Flor Lauria, while the PhD program awarded short-term research grants to Wes Burdine, Andrew Marzoni, and Davu Seru. Congratulations to all!

Graduate Students Publish Books!

Three current graduate students in the Department of English are publishing books this year. PhD candidate Katie Robison was recently interviewed in the Minnesota Daily about her new debut young adult novel Downburst (Quil Books, Inc.). She is working toward a PhD in medieval and early modern literature. Meanwhile, MFA candidate Feng Sun Chen just published her first poetry collection Butcher's Tree with Black Ocean. MFA candidate Sarah Fox publishes Mother Substance, her second collection with Coffee House Press, next fall. The three authors will be reading from their respective books at 12:30 pm April 26, in Lind Hall 207A.

Minnesota State Arts Board Grant Winners

Congratulations to our 2012 Minnesota State Arts Board grant winners! MFA candidates Elizabeth Abbott, David Malley, and Andrea Uptmor received grants to support their creative work. Alumnae/i winners include Matt Burgess, Kathleen Glasgow, Brian Laidlaw, Heather McPherson, Margie Newman, Michael Opperman, and Holly Vanderhaar.

Doctoral Candidate External Awards

The following PhD candidates were the recipients of awards from outside the University: Patricia Baehler, Thomas F. Wallace Fellowship for her dissertation "'Convey'd to Your Hand': The Delivery and Circulation of Letters in Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 1684-1815" (adviser Brian Goldberg); Lelaine L. Bonine, Fellowship from the Japanese government to present "Master of (Global) Suspense: Digital Hitchcock and Cinephilia Gone Global," at the Nagoya American Studies Summer Seminar, Nanzan University, Japan (adviser Jani Scandura); Keith Mikos, National American Philosophical Society fellowship for summer research in Philadelphia for his project, "Magnification: Meaning, Metaphysics and the Microscope" (Scandura); Jessica Orton, spring Fulbright Grant to conduct research and teach in Rome, Italy; Davu Seru, Phillips Fellowship, Archie Givens Sr. Collection of African-American Literature and Life (adviser John Wright); Maurits Van Bever Donker, South African National Research Foundation Prestigious Doctoral Fellowship and Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change/Mellon Foundation Doctoral Research Fellowship (advisers Qadri Ismail & Tom Pepper). Congratulations to all!

Doctoral Candidate Internal Awards

The following PhD candidates in English were the recipients of University and department awards: Erik Carlson, Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for his dissertation project "The Old English Language of Fear" (adviser Andrew Scheil); Elissa Hansen, Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for her dissertation project "Signs of the Time: Temporality in Fourteenth Century English Contemplative Writing" (adviser Rebecca Krug); Josh Mabie, Consortium Fellowship, University Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences (adviser Dan Philippon); Eric Brownell, Samuel Hold Monk Memorial Prize for Published Scholarship, for his article "Our Lady of the Telegraph: Mina as Medieval Cyborg in Bram Stoker's Dracula," Journal of Dracula Studies, 12 (December 2010), 29-51 (adviser Lois Cucullu); Emily Anderson, Garner/McNaron/Sprengnether Summer Fellowship in Feminist Literary Studies, for her project "Marrying Monsters, Becoming Bridezillas: The Reimagining of the Gothic in 21st Century Narratives of Marriage" (Cucullu); and Eun Joo Kim, Audrey Christensen Library Acquisition Prize (adviser Josephine Lee). Congratulations to all!

Graduate Research Partnership Program Awards

The recipients of the Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) summer awards for 2011 are: Eric Brownell, "The Winking Portrait: Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir as Postwar Pastiche" (Faculty sponsor: Lois Cucullu); Sarah Fox, "Mother Substance" (Madelon Sprengnether); Kate Johnston, "Silence(d): An Inquiry into Meditation and Solitary Confinement" (Ray Gonzalez); William Kanyusik, "The Problem of Recognition: The Disabled Male Veteran and Masculinity as Spectacle" (Siobhan Craig); Michael Rowe, "Affect, Ethic, and Intention in the Archive: The 'Project' of Djuna Barnes Nightwood" (Cucullu); Katie Sisneros, "Representations of the Ottoman Empire in English Ballads: The Caroline Period and the Battle of Vienna" (Nabil Matar). Congratulations!

Stanford Is 2011 Scribe for Human Rights

Congratulations to MFA candidate Claire Stanford, who has been selected as the summer 2011 Scribe for Human Rights. Claire will work closely with the University's Human Rights Program during her ten-week fellowship, which centers around developing a creative writing program with a human rights emphasis at Gordon Parks High School in Saint Paul. Gordon Parks serves at-risk youth ages 16-21 in the Frogtown neighborhood. The Scribe for Human Rights is a joint initiative of the Creative Writing Program and the Human Rights Program.

Graduate Student News

Nick Robinette (PhD 2010) has accepted a tenure-track position at James Madison University in Virginia. He had previously held a position as Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin College. . . . Chang-Hee Kim (PhD 2009) has accepted a tenure-track position at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Engineering in South Korea. . . . PhD candidate Renee Delong has accepted a tenure-track position at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. . . . PhD candidate Patricia Baehler was awarded a Thomas Wallace Fellowship from the Graduate School for the 2011-12 academic year. Congratulations to all!