What was your writing sample?

[j.alicea]

@Ranmaag Much appreciated! And I will take you up on that offer if they accept me! Is the new hire Armando García?

@mwils15 Super stoked to see someone taking on crime/detective fiction! Are you familiar with Leonard Cassuto? He does some cool work in that field, and many others (including baseball). I am very new to the genre, so I think I will check out The Hansom Cab this summer - thanks!

[jadeisokay]

1 hour ago, placeinspace said:

It is! My WS discusses how gender is expressed in urban environments in Manhattan Transfer by Dos Passos. I work mainly in spatial/urban studies and feminist/gender studies.

ah, i did something like this but in belle du jour versus l'eclisse vs 2 or 3 things i know about her. not the most complex paper but it was the longest one i had. 

[placeinspace]

3 minutes ago, jadeisokay said:

ah, i did something like this but in belle du jour versus l'eclisse vs 2 or 3 things i know about her. not the most complex paper but it was the longest one i had. 

I don’t know what half these words mean but it’s exciting to meet someone working in a similar field!!

[ArcaMajora]

11 minutes ago, j.alicea said:

 Much appreciated! And I will take you up on that offer if they accept me! Is the new hire Armando García?

Indeed Fairly recent hire iirc, graduated by the time García started teaching classes so I can't say a lot beyond pure speculation. I'll see what I can dig up.

And good luck! I hope you get in. The department's been making a push to hire more faculty as of late (I know there's active searches for tenured and tenure-track Black Studies faculty atm, and an Early Modern search is also happening due to recent retirements, tho as I write this... this feels more a nudge towards interested applicants in future cycles in the 2020s and beyond now lol)

Edited January 31, 2019 by Ranmaag

[jadeisokay]

ah, sorry! three different films we watched in an honors seminar about modernism and film studies. i got really into the idea through being a nerd for michelangelo antonioni films. he trained as an architect before filmmaking and a trilogy of his films (l'avventura, la notte, l'eclisse) feature space/place as almost their own characters. wasn't exactly what my sop was tailored to (i want to work more with memory/space in russian film/lit) but again, it was kind of all i had. i keep meaning to finish manhattan transfer and would love to read your take on it after i finish. 

[mwils15]

10 minutes ago, j.alicea said:

@Ranmaag Much appreciated! And I will take you up on that offer if they accept me! Is the new hire Armando García?

@mwils15 Super stoked to see someone taking on crime/detective fiction! Are you familiar with Leonard Cassuto? He does some cool work in that field, and many others (including baseball). I am very new to the genre, so I think I will check out The Hansom Cab this summer - thanks!

I'm not familiar with Cassuot. I'll have to check out his work! I'll warn you The Hansom Cab is a bit dry. I'll be honest with you; I found it less enjoyable as a novel, as it's very dry and about 100 pages too long in my opinion. It's more interesting as a case study in the circulation of literary genres in the British colonies and for what it reveals about Melbourne in the C19. 

[placeinspace]

4 minutes ago, jadeisokay said:

ah, sorry! three different films we watched in an honors seminar about modernism and film studies. i got really into the idea through being a nerd for michelangelo antonioni films. he trained as an architect before filmmaking and a trilogy of his films (l'avventura, la notte, l'eclisse) feature space/place as almost their own characters. wasn't exactly what my sop was tailored to (i want to work more with memory/space in russian film/lit) but again, it was kind of all i had. i keep meaning to finish manhattan transfer and would love to read your take on it after i finish. 

Ohhh got it! I know nothing about film so that is super interesting to learn! And Russian lit is another blind spot of mine but I love hearing there’s work being done in space and memory there. 

And yes, definitely finish MT, it’s so underrated in the modernist canon imo, and definitely a favorite of mine 

[Bopie5]

1 hour ago, Ranmaag said:

love the concept behind your WS omg. And also massive props to utilizing Kristeva. You have a far, far stronger theoretical basis than I do but I've been playing catch up in the interim to stop myself from thinking about decisions so much. (also, great to see a reader of 20th century poetry utilizing feminist/gender theory). My period and literature are related (I'm taking too big of a risk and marketing myself transhistorically, focusing on modernist and postmodernist queer poetics but in my SoP, marking myself as cleanly a 20th and 21st century Americanist), but I primarily work in queer theory as my methodological lens (Edelman, Sedgwick, Munoz, Halberstam, etc are the theorists I tend to float around).

Ah thank you so much! What an affirmation to hear at this stage in the process. Honestly, I was really lucky to take a survey seminar on feminist theory where we literally read Foucault, Rubin, Chodorow, Gilligan, Pateman, Cixous, Irigaray, Kristeva, Crenshaw, hooks, Butler, Spivak, Mohanty, Hennessey, Haraway, Connell, Laquer, Moi, and others, all in one semester. It really changed my life and got me SO excited about feminist theory, gender theory, and queer theory, and really spurred me to dive deeper on my own.

Queer poetics! And HALBERSTAM. Would be a dream someday to meet him/hear him speak. Your research sounds amazing and so exciting. I love the current work being done towards thinking a queer poetics. Have any favorite queer poets? Or any poets you particularly like to deploy queer theory with?

1 hour ago, kendalldinniene said:

have you read any Suzanne Bost? Her work on pain and motherhood I think would really interest you. I’ll see if I can find the last article of hers I used to send to you, if you’re interested.

Would love! Please email!

[havemybloodchild]

Ahhhh has anyone read the article “Sounding Gay: Pitch Properties in the Speech of Gay and Straight Men”?  I read it for a class and now there’s a documentary on the subject called “Do I Sound Gay” which I so recommend for anyone interested in construction/articulation of gender and sexuality in relation to speech/code switching/dialect. So good!

 

This has a ton to do with my capstone project/one of my WS about gay men trying to abate femininity because it’s a threat to their privilege, among other things.

Edited January 31, 2019 by kendalldinniene

[ArcaMajora]

1 hour ago, Bopie5 said:

Ah thank you so much! What an affirmation to hear at this stage in the process. Honestly, I was really lucky to take a survey seminar on feminist theory where we literally read Foucault, Rubin, Chodorow, Gilligan, Pateman, Cixous, Irigaray, Kristeva, Crenshaw, hooks, Butler, Spivak, Mohanty, Hennessey, Haraway, Connell, Laquer, Moi, and others, all in one semester. It really changed my life and got me SO excited about feminist theory, gender theory, and queer theory, and really spurred me to dive deeper on my own.

Queer poetics! And HALBERSTAM. Would be a dream someday to meet him/hear him speak. Your research sounds amazing and so exciting. I love the current work being done towards thinking a queer poetics. Have any favorite queer poets? Or any poets you particularly like to deploy queer theory with?

No problem! Tbh tho you yourself sound like you have a veritable body of work if the WS summary is any indication. Crossing fingers that one of the programs  you applied accepts you into the fold. Also, this seminar on feminist theory ❤️ I'm in love. This would make my intellectual life and more. Foucault, Cixous, Kristeva, Crenshaw, hooks, Butler, Spivak, Hennessey omg. If there was any class I wish I had when I was undergrad, it would be this one.

Thank you so much! It's much appreciated as well, since this whole process has made me question everything top to bottom about all the research I've done. Queer poetics is my jam tbh, and Halberstam was one of my first anchors into queer theory. I'm applying to Columbia and listed Halberstam as a POI and it would be a dream come true if miracles happen. In terms of favorites... It's difficult but if I had to name a favorite, Elizabeth Bishop. I personally relate to a lot of her poetry and find her verse and short story writing to be nothing short of sublime, and she's also been an inspiration to not just my thesis, but to more contemporary poets I've studied as well. If I could expand my thesis into a dissertation, she's next-in-line for an entire chapter. I'm also into Robert Lowell (who I'd love to do a queer reading on), Sylvia Plath, Henri Cole, Hart Crane, Frank Bidart, Wallace Stevens, Frank O'Hara, and James Merrill.

[Bopie5]

2 minutes ago, Ranmaag said:

No problem! Tbh tho you yourself sound like you have a veritable body of work if the WS summary is any indication. Crossing fingers that one of the programs  you applied accepts you into the fold. Also, this seminar on feminist theory ❤️ I'm in love. This would make my intellectual life and more. Foucault, Cixous, Kristeva, Crenshaw, hooks, Butler, Spivak, Hennessey omg. If there was any class I wish I had when I was undergrad, it would be this one.

Thank you so much! It's much appreciated as well, since this whole process has made me question everything top to bottom about all the research I've done. Queer poetics is my jam tbh, and Halberstam was one of my first anchors into queer theory. I'm applying to Columbia and listed Halberstam as a POI and it would be a dream come true if miracles happen. In terms of favorites... It's difficult but if I had to name a favorite, Elizabeth Bishop. I personally relate to a lot of her poetry and find her verse and short story writing to be nothing short of sublime, and she's also been an inspiration to not just my thesis, but to more contemporary poets I've studied as well. If I could expand my thesis into a dissertation, she's next-in-line for an entire chapter. I'm also into Robert Lowell (who I'd love to do a queer reading on), Sylvia Plath, Henri Cole, Hart Crane, Frank Bidart, Wallace Stevens, Frank O'Hara, and James Merrill.

Ah you're too nice! Thank you. I sometimes feel like my projects are all too unfocused. Most of the time, directly or obliquely, my work is talking about what kind of bodies are permitted to enact what kind of actions, and what it looks like to be "permitted." But that leads me to looking somewhat messy in terms of period, genre, theoretical lens, and everything else haha, because embodiment work dips its toes into fem/gen, queer theory, critical race theory, ability theory, affects, aesthetics, and even sometimes ecocrit if there's anti-anthropocentric work going on. 

Fingers crossed for you as well! But yes, that seminar was incredibly life changing. Plus the deep discussions on so many theorists! 

I listed Halberstam too, but more by way of talking about queer-coded bodies in visual culture. Seems like your interests might be closer and who knows? Miracles can happen! Also, wildly and weirdly, I was reading Lowell's sonnet on Eliot when I got the notification on your reply. And AH. O'Hara is maybe in my top 5 poets. "For Grace, After a Party" and "Mayakovsky" live in my soul.

[ArcaMajora]

5 minutes ago, Bopie5 said:

Ah you're too nice! Thank you. I sometimes feel like my projects are all too unfocused. Most of the time, directly or obliquely, my work is talking about what kind of bodies are permitted to enact what kind of actions, and what it looks like to be "permitted." But that leads me to looking somewhat messy in terms of period, genre, theoretical lens, and everything else haha, because embodiment work dips its toes into fem/gen, queer theory, critical race theory, ability theory, affects, aesthetics, and even sometimes ecocrit if there's anti-anthropocentric work going on. 

Fingers crossed for you as well! But yes, that seminar was incredibly life changing. Plus the deep discussions on so many theorists! 

I listed Halberstam too, but more by way of talking about queer-coded bodies in visual culture. Seems like your interests might be closer and who knows? Miracles can happen! Also, wildly and weirdly, I was reading Lowell's sonnet on Eliot when I got the notification on your reply. And AH. O'Hara is maybe in my top 5 poets. "For Grace, After a Party" and "Mayakovsky" live in my soul.

I feel this so much.

Okay so I'm about to stream of consciousness some questionable advice so bear with me. But the good thing with your current oeuvre is that there's definitely a workable themeatic that allows for a constellation of lenses (embodiment is an excellent one, and to my reading it feels like you're interrogating and examining the critical points of agency and the body, and how agency and permission can be constructed and enacted on bodies whose agencies are controlled, and of course... there is the notion of what is agency and what constitutes permission). it may look messy to an adcom now (which I relate, considering I'm basically going 'I'm not just a modernist or a postmodernist, I'm both'), but I can imagine it being a valuable asset to have when you start to centralize and focus your research and reading lists for PhD quals and the dissertation. Having a thematic this focused could def help in finding primary and secondary fields later on.

I work in embodiment myself, but I normally work in reading queer embodiment in verse as reading practice more so than it as the larger point of my research. It's difficult to articulate, especially since queer embodiment can manifest in so many different forms as queerness itself is still a very elusive modality (which is precisely why I study it, simply because it can mean so much in a wide variety of contexts, and identifying those subtleties and resonances it very gratifying). However, my research has taken a more constellatory and archival route as of late (which is why I mark my periods as solely 20th and 21st century). My advisor once told me that I was tending my interests towards a constellation of queer poets in my own independent research (starting from Hart Crane to now, possibly up to Alex Dimitrov, I need to look into the very latest of queer poets however... it's been a while). I've been interested in challenging and interrogating the canon wars of the 90s as of late, and utilizing queer reading practices and theory... What would it mean then to queer the American poetic canon? In which one places center stage queer poets and centralizes this 'archive' (queer archiving is something I've also been in looking into recently) of queer poets, and how does that de-stabilize normative literary practices and more critically, what does it mean then to conceive of a literary canon in an ever-changing and evolving literary landscape?

Halberstam sounds like a similarly great fit for you as well tbh. I'm hoping, but at this rate, only the adcomm knows. And what a happy coincidence haha! In terms of O'Hara, my first exposure and still favorite is 'Having a Coke With You.' I took a seminar on reading poetry two years ago and a graduate student working within my field was invited to the class to read the poem out loud, and I remember being moved (even moreso now, considering what's happened between then and now).

[aporeticpoetic]

I love this thread. It's been so amazing to read about everyone's interests, and makes me doubly excited for actually entering a program with like-minded thinkers.

My writing sample is from an independent study during my MFA and it is on "ontologies" of lack and excess in lyrical poetics (obviously incorporating Lacanian and Freudian theories). I used the poetry of Rilke and Strand to show the way our imagery for excess and "too-muchness" is almost analogous to that of disconnect and alienation, and that our phenomenological renderings of each are eerily similar in poetry. It was very much a close-reading sort of writing sample, which might work in my favor for some programs but not so much for others, and I use a lot of critical theory which might be all over the place--everything from Baudrillard to Derrida to Bachelard. (Perhaps a sort of poststructuralist psychoanalysis, if you know what I mean?)

[spectrum-in]

1 hour ago, aporeticpoetic said:

I love this thread. It's been so amazing to read about everyone's interests, and makes me doubly excited for actually entering a program with like-minded thinkers.

My writing sample is from an independent study during my MFA and it is on "ontologies" of lack and excess in lyrical poetics (obviously incorporating Lacanian and Freudian theories). I used the poetry of Rilke and Strand to show the way our imagery for excess and "too-muchness" is almost analogous to that of disconnect and alienation, and that our phenomenological renderings of each are eerily similar in poetry. It was very much a close-reading sort of writing sample, which might work in my favor for some programs but not so much for others, and I use a lot of critical theory which might be all over the place--everything from Baudrillard to Derrida to Bachelard. (Perhaps a sort of poststructuralist psychoanalysis, if you know what I mean?)

Yay another MFA!!! What was your genre?

[aporeticpoetic]

32 minutes ago, spectrum-in said:

Yay another MFA!!! What was your genre?

Poetry! I went to UNCW. What about you? It was a really productive experience for my creative work, and good to get a lot of teaching experience, but I am SO ready at this point to be in a more academic/theoretical setting, you know?

[spectrum-in]

2 hours ago, aporeticpoetic said:

Poetry! I went to UNCW. What about you? It was a really productive experience for my creative work, and good to get a lot of teaching experience, but I am SO ready at this point to be in a more academic/theoretical setting, you know?

I'm finishing up my MFA in Fiction from Columbia! Absolutely agree--incredible teaching experience and for my work creatively, but definitely minimal theory. I did get to take a course in the English department, which I loved. How are you thinking about continuing your creative work in the PhD?

[LOiseauRouge]

This is so great to read about everyone's interests and papers!

I had two writing samples. One was about André Gide, Colette, Marcel Proust, Renée Vivien, and Jean Cocteau, answering the question of which of their approaches to writing about homosexuality in a time where it was not commonly discussed seemed most efficient at changing perspectives in the late 19th, early 20th century. The other was about the importance of having students continue to read works by George Sand, René Crevel, and Violette Leduc (essentially how their writing serves as a counternarrative to narratives of dominance within society). The first one, I wrote in French, and the second I wrote in English, but my textual quotes and some of my theoretical framework quotes were in French. The director of the one of the universities I applied to emailed me about my French paper and seemed to really enjoy it! She does research on a few of the authors I was analyzing, so that was super exciting!