Graduate Students

Maya Aghasi Maya Aghasi is interested in the narrative construction of the nation and the role literature plays in such narratives, whether it reinstates, problematizes, or refuses them. As such, she considers religious literature, myth, and historical texts to supplement her understanding of the nation and modernity. She works in Arabic, Hebrew, and French under the direction of Professor Mary Layoun.

Laura Bru

Mayra Cerda-Gómez

Chiuminatta, Gina

Jeanette E. Goddard Jeanette Goddard is currently working on her dissertation entitled: “The Site of the Cross-Dressed Body: Performing Gender and Desire in Early Modern Comedy.” By examining Italian, Spanish, and English comedies, this dissertation works toward a comparative, transnational understanding of the relationship between the genre of comedy and the performance of gender and desire.

Jessica Gross

Anna Grelson

Marian Halls

Brent Harlow

Anne Helke

Jeni Legg

Tram Ly Tram Ly works in Vietnamese, classical Chinese, and French, focusing on the novel and the modern period. She is interested in the intersections of the spheres of history, memory, and literature in the novelizing of the Vietnam war in particular. Her major advisor is Professor M. N. Layoun.

John T. Mattioli John Mattioli is interested in how modern world literature rewrites and reworks foundational concepts--Violence, Myth, Religion, History and Art--and their source materials.  John translates poetry and short stories from Thai and Khmer. He enjoys teaching literature and its relation to history, civilization and social change.  He primarily works in Thai, Khmer and French.

Saher Muslim

Peter Orte

Hye Young Park

Faith Portier Faith Portier works in English, Spanish, Russian and Chinese, primarily focusing on the modern period. She is interested in questions of genre, intertextuality, and translation. Current and former work has included the modern novel, comic books, the word/image question, literary allusion, narrative, and the body. Her advisor and chair of the dissertation committee is Professor Christopher Livanos. Other members of the committee include Professor Mary Layoun and Professor Jill Casid (Art History and Visual Culture, affiliate in Comparative Literature).

Janelle Pluczinski

Kerstin Schaars Kerstin Schaars is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature. She is working on a dissertation concerning the capacity to question ethics via literature. Her languages include French and Spanish. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Harriet and Leone, an online journal of creative work. Harriet and Leone can be found at, www.HarrietandLeone.net.

Ziad Suidan

Joelle Tybon

Jennifer Wacek

Elisabeth (Arti) Wulandari Arti Wulandari wrote her M.A. thesis for Comparative Literature at Cornell University on Arifin C. Noer's Kapai-Kapai and Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi is Dead. Her interests include postcolonial Studies, Indonesian literature and theatre, Anglophone postcolonial drama/theater, and literary theory. She works in Indonesian and Javanese, and is currently learning Hindi and Sanskrit.

Zuo, Wei