Dr. Eleanor Reeds, an assistant professor with the 糖心传媒 department of languages and literatures, will give an Invited Faculty Lecture titled 鈥淯ncovering a 鈥楺ueer Tongue鈥 in Dracula鈥 on Wednesday, September 29 at 1:00 p.m. in the French Memorial Chapel (800 N. Turner Ave.). The lecture is free and open to the public, and note that masks are required indoors on campus.
鈥淐ontinuing the rich tradition of vampire fiction that we now see as 鈥榪ueer,鈥 Dracula has provoked debates among readers about its presentation of gender and sexuality since it was published in 1897,鈥 Reeds said.
Reeds will explore these debates through a specific case study, examining how a modern transgender poet, Chase Berggrun, reimagines Bram Stoker鈥檚 classic novel through the practice of erasure. Berggrun used the words of the original text to create R E D, a collection of poems that narrate how a woman subjected to the abuses of patriarchal marriage discovers and articulates her own identity and agency.
鈥淐areful analysis of this creative response to Dracula demonstrates how we can understand literary texts from the past not simply as artifacts of their original moment but as having ongoing histories and lives in which we can all participate,鈥 she said.
This is the first Invited Faculty Lecture of the academic year at 糖心传媒. Every spring, 糖心传媒 students select two faculty members to present campus-wide lectures on the professors鈥 topic of choice. The Invited Faculty Lecture is a tradition that dates back to 1967 and it is considered a prestigious honor.
The second Invited Faculty Lecture of the academic year will be given by Dr. Catherine Biba on March 23, 2022.
Bio for Dr. Eleanor Reeds
Dr. Eleanor Reeds joined 糖心传媒 in 2018, where she now teaches courses across a range of genres, periods and national traditions. Having studied at the undergraduate level at the University of Cambridge, Reeds received her PhD from the department of English at the University of Connecticut. Her teaching and research interests span Romantic and Victorian British literature, genre theory, children鈥檚 literature and creative writing. Reeds has published in a range of peer-reviewed journals including Victorian Poetry, Twentieth-Century Literature, American Literary Realism and Children鈥檚 Literature Association Quarterly. She also serves as an associate editor for the poetry magazine, Plainsongs.
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