I am a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Penn State’s Comparative Literature program, having recently completed my PhD in this program. In the summer of 2016, I defended my dissertation on the philosophical tradition of the sublime in Renaissance epic poetry, focusing on the work of Tasso, Spenser, and Milton. My research centers on early modern European literature — primarily English, French, and Italian — with a particular interest in the genre of epic poetry. I also have a strong interest in the heroic literature tradition from Homer to twenty-first century literature and film.

As a scholar and teacher, I am especially interested in the transmission of ideas over time — in the ways that authors borrow, disseminate, and reinvent ideas for their own literary and cultural purposes. To facilitate this analysis in my classes, I tend to incorporate a broad temporal and geographic range of texts, from the classical epic poetry of Homer, to the dramatic work of Shakespeare, to the Japanese epic film Princess Mononoke. Just as meaningful to me as the discovery of connections across diverse literary traditions is the process of helping my students draw these connections themselves — and I have found students to be as excited about these discoveries as I am.

In my spare time, I am an avid distance runner. I competed for my high school and college cross country/track and field teams, and the sport remains an important part of my life. Although I don’t put in the miles that I used to, I still enjoy competing in the occasional road race, from 5Ks to half marathons.