(Research)
My research examines twentieth-century literature’s engagement with questions of aesthetic and political theory. I am currently working on a book manuscript titled Modernism’s Political Theologies. In my dissertation, titled “Sovereignty and World-Making: States of Exception in Modernist Literature 1915-1941,” I argue that during the inter-war period, British, Irish, and German writers represent figures of absolute power as grounded in concepts of craft and making. In light of this orientation, which diverges significantly from accounts of sovereignty available in contemporary political philosophy, their narrative innovations tackle problems of leadership, security, and democracy, making critical interventions in global affairs.
Upcoming Conferences
Modernist Studies Association 11: The Languages of Modernism
November 5-8, 2009, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Seminar: “Articulating Mid-Century Modernism”
Presenter: “No Lovers, No Fighters: Mid-Century European Epics Go to Work”
Recent Conferences
North American James Joyce Conference: Eire on the Erie
June 13-17, 2009, University at Buffalo-SUNY
Presenter: “Joyce, West, Augustine.”
American Comparative Literature Association: Global Languages, Local Cultures
March 26-29, Harvard University
Presenter: “Augustine at Nuremberg: Life, Law, and Love in Arendt and West”
Modernist Studies Association: Modernism and Global Media
November 13-16, 2008, Nashville, TN
Presenter: “In the Trench or from the Air: World War I Technology and Carl Schmitt’s The Nomos of the Earth“
Modern Language Association
December 27-30, 2008, San Francisco, CA
Presenter: “The Sleeping Lord: Celtic Romance and Sovereign Time”