Faculty

Profile

“Literary Theories of Circumcision” (the “Most Distinguished Dissertation” in English at the CUNY Graduate Center, 2017) examined how patristic constructions of circumcision influenced the form of medieval, renaissance, and modernist poetry. Form and Foreskin (forthcoming) focuses specifically on how the foreskin served as a model for shaping medieval narratology. Trans/Black/Medieval (in progress) will champion an emerging school of twenty-first century poets and artists who draw upon medieval poetic forms in order to transcend modern, liberal, secular identity formations.

Early articles include “Misogynists as Queers in Le Livre de la Cité des Dames,” which established Christine de Pizan’s rhetorical deployment of queer figures in her critique of misogyny; and “‘In te consumere nomen’: The Politics of Naming in Ausonius’s Mosella,” which conjectured a date for the composition of Mosella. Essays on pedagogy have called for queering the doctorate and for ending the racist standardization of English. 

Creative projects include Gender Trouble Couplets, a rendition of Judith Butler rewritten into rhyming verse (inspired by medieval rhyming encyclopedias). And Transfer Queen, a collection of portraits of men on the New York City subway (inspired by the medieval genre of compendia about women). “Can’t Get There from Here” is a lyrical documentary about Appalachian Pennsylvania, told through a series of country-folk songs. And “Mono Generation” (the “Best Documentary” at Experimental Forum, 2017) is a meditation on celebrity, the War on Terror, and mononucleosis. 

---

Degrees Held

Ph.D., English, CUNY (2017)

M.Phil., English, CUNY (2014)

M.A., Medieval Studies, Fordham (2012)

B.A., Liberal Arts (Interdisciplinary Science & Literary Studies), Eugene Lang (2008)

---

Professional Affiliation

PEN America; Brooklyn Wayfarers (Board Member); Babel Working Group; Medieval Academy; MLA

---

Recent Publications

Poetry Collections

• Gender Trouble Couplets, Vol. 1 (punctum, 2019)
• Transfer Queen (punctum, 2018)
• My Gay Middle Ages (punctum, 2015)
• Thebes (Jerk Poet, 2015)
• Retractions & Revelations (Jerk Poet, 2014)

Monograph

• Form and Foreskin: Circumcising the Textual Body in Patristic Exegetical Theory & Middle English Poetic Practice (under review)

Journal Articles

• “Macrobius’s Foreskin,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 46.1 (2016): 7-31. 
• “Sir Orfeo as a Critical/Liberal/Art,” post-medieval: a journal of medieval cultural studies 6.4 (2015): 478-84.
• “‘We Play at Paste’: Glossing Fytt XIII of the Pearl with Emily Dickinson,” Glossator 9 (2015): 251-63.
• “Getting Medieval on Graduate Education: Queering Academic Professionalization,” Pedagogy 15.1 (2015): 119-38.
• “‘In te consumere nomen’: The Politics of Naming in Ausonius’s Mosella,” Names 62.4 (2014): 189-201.
• “Misogynists as Queers in Le Livre de la Cité des Dames,” Romanic Review 104.3-4 (2013): 251-71.

Exhibition Catalogues

• “Caprices,” Brooklyn: Three Four Three Four Gallery (2018).
• “Playing Favorites,” Brooklyn: Wayfarers Studio Program (2017).

Multi-Media Exhibitions

• Pastelería Ideal (RÝMD, Iceland, 2019).

Selected Essays

• “#MedievalToo,” Inside Higher Education (2018)
• “Why We Need Greater Linguistic Diversity,” Inside Higher Education (2017)
• “How to Cultivate Greater Linguistic Diversity,” Inside Higher Education (2017)
• "I Got the Donald Trump Blues," Good Man Project (2017)
• “The Best Lists of 2016,” Inside Higher Education (2017)
• “Transcending the Job Market,” Chronicle of Higher Education (2017)
• “A Queer Confession,” Inside Higher Education (2016)
• “Beowulf among the Ruins,” Chronicle of Higher Education (2016)
• “Teacher’s Pet,” Chronicle of Higher Education (2016)
• “The Consolation of Asceticism,” Chronicle of Higher Education (2015)
• “Academe’s Circular Firing Squads,” Chronicle of Higher Education (2014)
• “Corporeality in the Classroom,” Glasgow Review of Books (2014)
• “The Antigay Blood Ban and What It Means to be Gay” (2012)

Short Film

• “Mono Generation”: Chicago Underground Film Festival; Dallas VideoFest; Experimental Forum (Winner, "Best Documentary"); Somerville Film Festival; Toronto Film Week

Individual Poems & Stories

• Our Town NY, Anamesa, Artists Under Order, Composite, IDK, Impact, inPrint, Jerk Poet, Porchlight, Upstart

---

Performances and Appearances

Lectures and Panel Discussions

"Medieval Englishes/Trans Poetics," King's College, London, 2019. 

"De-Grading," Hunter College, 2019.

“Beginnings and Endings,” Eugene Lang, First-Year Writing Talk, 2018.

“The Foreskins of the Poets,” Eugene Lang, Literary Studies Talk, 2018.

“Literary Theories of Circumcision,” Hunter, English Department Tea, 2017.

“How to Write in Rhyme Royal,” MLA Convention, 2017.

“Peter Abelard as a Queer Theorist,” 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan, 2014.

“Sir Orfeo as Poet, King, Historian: Towards a Poetics of Literary History,” A BABEL Symposium, CUNY GC, 2013.

“‘I wolde his eiʒe were in his ers and his fynger after’: Langland's Queer Dystopia," 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan, 2012.

"In te consumere nomen: The Onomastic Consumption of Nature in Ausonius's Mosella," 36th International Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference, Villanova, 2011.

"Religious Readers, Secular Authors: the Recycling of Divine Love by Late-Medieval Women in the Findern Manuscript," 35th Annual Mid-America Medieval Association Conference, Missouri-Kansas City, 2011.

 

Recent Readings

First-Year Writing Faculty Reading, Eugene Lang, New York, Sept. 2018.

Punctum Books Reading, Bluestockings, New York, Sept. 2018.

Shakespeare & Company, New York, Oct. 2018.

Wayfarers, Brooklyn, Oct. 2018.

BGSQD, LGBTQ Center, New York, Nov. 2018.

 

---

Research Interests

queer formalism, poetics and narratology, hermeneutics, mysticism, theology, experimental cinema, socio-linguistic history, vernacularity and non-standard Englishes, the folk process, sex/gender/sexuality/eroticism, rurality, post-critical and radical pedagogy

---

Awards And Honors

Grant, “Immersive Anglo-Saxon Pedagogy," CUNY, 2018

Grant, “Open Educational Resources," CUNY, 2018

Prize, “Most Distinguished Dissertation," CUNY, 2017

Prize, “Best Documentary," Experimental Forum, 2017

---

Current Courses

Augustine & Poetics Confession

Chaucer: The Art of Irony

Getting Medieval in Modern Art

Invention of Literature

Invention of Literature

Invention of Literature: DSC

Writing the Essay I