Fantastic Area Sessions 2017

Sorry about the lack of formatting; Blogger doesn't make pasting from Word easy:

Fantastic (Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction) Areas Sessions 2017
(full conference program at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference-schedule/)

Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm

PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta

 “Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati

Dustin Fisher received an M.A. in Literature from Wright State University in 2014 where he completed and presented his master’s thesis, “Doppelgangers and Dualistic Femininity in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.” In 2014 he also presented a paper at Newcastle University in Newcastle, UK, on Ian McEwan’s Atonement. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in contemporary Gothic fiction and film studies at the University of Cincinnati.

“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Erica Tortolani is currently enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Communication with a concentration in Film Studies.  Her past research explored the intersection of film theory with rhetorical studies, looking specifically at how the cinematic medium can transmit messages regarding gender, sexuality, and the female body through visual and narrative elements.  These interests culminated into her Masters thesis, entitled "Dual Images of the ‘Monstrous Feminine’ in Three Horror Films," a project that received the 2015 Graduate Research Excellence award at the University of Rhode Island.  Erica has also presented at the 2015 Graduate Conference at the URI, the 2016 Northeastern Modern Language Association Conference, and earned her publication in the Fall 2013 issue of the undergraduate journal, Film Matters.  Her research interests include general film theory and criticism, silent cinema, comedy and theories of humor, horror films, German Expressionist film, and feminist film theory.

“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University

After receiving her Master of Literature in 2016, Harim Park is doing a Ph.D in Comparative Literature at Seoul National University. She has published an article titled “The Origin of Catastrophe and Melancholy: A Korean Cultural Study on Zombie Narrative in the 2000s” in the journal of Korea Comparative Literature as the result of her master degree. Her areas of research include 1990-2000s Korean literature, genre fiction, movie, webtoon, and modernization, democratization after the Korean War. Harim is currently studying on disaster, apocalypse, Sci-fi narratives and non-human representations in contemporary East asian cultures, specifically Korea, Taiwan and Japan. 

“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Steffen Silvis is a playwright, theatre critic, actor and director, who is currently finishing his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Among Silvis’ plays are Archetypes (1991; produced at The King’s Head, London), Liberty, Oregon (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 1993, produced by The Man-in-the-Moon Theatre, Chelsea, London, 1994, [nominated for best new work on the London Fringe]; The Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 1995, California State University, 2005,); The Kalama Orpheum (winner of the London International Playwrights Festival, 2001); Nothing, If Not Critical (co-winner of the London One-Act Festival, 2003, and produced in London and Portland, Oregon, 2004); and Phere[crates]: Scraps (produced in Madison, Wisconsin, 2013). Silvis was the theatre critic for Portland’s Willamette Week and The Prague Post in the Czech Republic. His writing has appeared in American Theatre Magazine, Time Out, Paperback Jukebox, and Black Lamb. Co-Founder of the Madison-based theatre company, In-House, Silvis has produced Manjula Padmanabhan’s Light’s Out, and directed the devised-environmental piece, Reunion. Silvis has also won an NEA/Annenberg Fellowship and an O’Neil Fellowship for his criticism.


Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm

PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar

“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University

Shane is from Honolulu, Hawaii, and completed his BA at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, his MA at the University of Northern Colorado, and is currently pursuing his PhD in English at North Dakota State University. His primary research interests are graphic novels and pop/comic culture more broadly, especially minority representations therein.

“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland

Rahel Worku was an undergrad English major at UMBC and is currently a Masters student at the University of Maryland studying Comparative Literature. Rahel is now in the second year of the program and once again teaching English 101. Rahel’s interests are in African American literature, speculative fiction, and comic books.

“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College

Cinzia DiGiulio is an Associate Professor of Italian and Cultural Studies at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts.  Cinzia completed a Doctorate in Russian and English (languages and literatures) at the Catholic University of Milan, a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Classics at Purdue University, and then a Ph.D. in Romance Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Most Cinzia’sstudies and research interests revolve around late 19th-century narrative (British, Russian, and Italian) -- particularly popular narrative -- and its intersections with contemporary popular culture.

“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Dr. Kristine Larsen is Professor of Astronomy at Central Connecticut State University, where her teaching and research focus on the intersections between science and society. She is the co-editor of The Mythological Dimensions of Doctor Who and The Mythological Dimensions of Neil Gaiman.


Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm

PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-envisioning the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University

“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar

Maggie Damken is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied literature and creative writing. She has presented previously at the Northeast Regional Honors Conference and Beacon Conference. A previous essay on Frankenstein was accepted for presentation by the Science Fiction Research Association.

“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University [WITHDRAWN]


“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
 
Independent scholar Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. Michael has presented papers on these topics at regional, national, and international conferences, as well as in published works. In addition, he is currently Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association and organizes sessions, like this one, for their annual conference in the fall and maintains the area’s blogs.


Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am

PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University

“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

Heather Flyte is a graduate student in English Literature at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. She is working on her thesis investigating the dialogue of imperialism created during translation of non-western fairy tales in the Victorian era, with a specific focus on Japanese folk tales. In September 2014, she presented at the “Sensational Influences: Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s Literary Legacy” in London and recently was awarded the Emma Richards-Bausch Award in Literary Criticism from Kutztown University for her writing on H.G. Wells. She is a non-traditional student who has previously worked in journalism and web development and plans to pursue doctoral work in English Literature.

“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta

Amie Doughty is an associate professor of English as SUNY Oneonta, where she teaches course in linguistics, composition, and literature, including children’s literature, folklore, fantasy, and science fiction. She is the author of Folktales Retold: A Critical Overview of Stories Updated for Children and “Throw the book away”: Reading versus Experience in Children’s Fantasy, and is the editor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture: A Mosaic of Criticism.

“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Cheryl Hunter is an adjunct professor of English and the Humanities at UMASS Lowell and Southern New Hampshire University. She attended the University of New Hampshire where she received a Master of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Philosophy and Literature. She was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at a week-long workshop on Henry David Thoreau. Her book, Myths and Archetypes in The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, looks at the roles of Philosophy and Mythology in modern literature and what important lessons about the human condition are conveyed to the audience through the hero and journey archetypes. She is a writer and artist, and she loves to travel.


Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon

PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania


“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University

Caitlin Duffy is a doctoral student in the English Department at Stony Brook University. Her scholarly interests include horror films and 19th century American Gothic literature. Her work will be published in the 2017 issue of The Journal of Dracula Studies and in an upcoming volume on 1980’s horror films.

“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University

James Patrick Carraghan is a graduate student, writing tutor, and research assistant at Kutztown University. He is currently writing a thesis on the intersection of Harlem Renaissance scholarship and Queer Theory. His work has been published in On the Road, Glimmer on the Bookshelf, and 5x5. He is currently a contributing writer at Terse Journal and Vada Magazine (UK).

“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University

Nova Seals is a Ph.D. candidate in humanities at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Nova is also the Director of Library Services and Archives and teaches philosophy courses at St. George’s School, an independent preparatory school in Middletown, Rhode Island. Her academic interests are the intersection of philosophy and technology, as well as art and aesthetics. Nova is particularly interested in how groups use technology, especially social media, to transform knowledge.

“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University

Terry Riley teaches in the English Department at Bloomsburg University.  He teaches 19th and 20th century British Literature; his research interests are in 19th century science and neo-Victorian fiction.


Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm

PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College

Emilie Lewis is currently an M.A. candidate in Gender/Cultural Studies at Simmons College in Boston. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Creative Writing from Goucher College and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach

Christopher Maye graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor's in English Literature and a minor in music in 2015. His research interest includes Critical Theory, Gender Studies, Political, and Ethnic Literature, but he primarily focuses on literature within the 18th Century English and 20th Century American periods. While he is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in English at CSULB, he works as a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Charter School system, and is one of the managing editors for CSULB’s graduate academic journal Watermark.

“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar

Dennin Ellis grew up in upstate New York and was raised by a consortium of stubborn women, a trait they passed to him. He learned how to read from X-Men comics and how to talk (and sing) from Beatles records. Throughout his childhood he vacillated between his dual passions for music and writing before settling on the former, receiving his Bachelor’s in Music from the College of Saint Rose. He then immediately went back to vacillating, achieving his Master’s in English from the State University of Albany. His graduate thesis, Colossus, concerned the place of humanity and the individual in the face of technological encroachment, brought to life through the melding of historical fiction, journalism and the epistolary novel. More recent projects include a collection of speculative fiction and research papers on topics as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe and Pink Floyd. He currently lives with his girlfriend in Ulsan, Korea, where he teaches English.


Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm

PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta

“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Shastri Akella earned an MFA in Creative Writing before joining the Comparative Literature PhD in 2014. He lived all over India, Dublin, and San Francisco, before moving the valley. He previously worked for a street theater troupe and for Google. His fiction and essays have been published or is forthcoming in Guernica, Electric Literature, The Common, The Rumpus, and Hypothetical Review, among other places. He has taught at the university for 5 years and was one of two teaching associates to win the campus-wide Distinguished Teaching Award for the academic year 2015-2016. His dissertation topic is a comparison of the perception of children in horror films and the perception of refugees. His other interests include film and translation, and he is working to get certified in both areas.

“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst

N. C. Christopher Couch holds a Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University, and is the author of numerous books and articles on comic art, graphic novels, and Latin American art. His most recent book, Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics (Abrams 2010), on the artist and humanitarian famed for his Expressionist Batman and creation of the Joker, was a Harvey Award finalist and was featured in a New York Times profile of Robinson. As senior editor at Kitchen Sink Press, he worked with Will Eisner, about whom he has published two co-authored volumes, including The Will Eisner Companion (2005, with Stephen Weiner). He has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Dumbarton Oaks of Harvard University, and the Newberry Library among others. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Trinity College in Hartford, and in the Care Center Clemente Program, Holyoke, MA, and has curated exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History and other art and science museums.

“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar

Katie Gagnon has a Master of Arts in American Studies from Trinity College.

Fantastic Area Sessions 2018

I am pleased to announce the schedule for the area's tenth-anniversary sessions. My thanks to the program chair, Marty Norden, for his help in organizing.

The complete conference schedule and registration information can be accessed at https://nepca.blog/2017-conference/.


Session I: Friday, October 27, 1:00-2:30pm

PANEL 1 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Horrors Past and Present
CHAIR: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Horrifying Mythical Obstacles: Masculine Anxieties and Alternate Gazes in Robert Eggers’s The Witch (2015),” Dustin Fisher, University of Cincinnati
“Images of the Indigenous Monster in The Green Inferno (2013),” Erica Tortolani, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Decomposing Youths and the Revival of the Zombies in Contemporary Korea,” Ha Rim Park, Seoul National University
“The Bunhill Apocalypse: Robert Aickman’s ‘Larger than Oneself’ (1966) as a Post-Christian Metaphor,” Steffen Silvis, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Session II: Friday, October 27, 2:45-4:15pm

PANEL 8 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Meeting Monsters
CHAIR: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
“‘Everything That Ought to Have Remained Hidden’: Sublimation and the Uncanny in Anya's Ghost (2011),” Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Murder, Reproduction, and Bad Women in Junji Ito’s Tomie,” Rahel Worku, University of Maryland
“A Trekkie’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” Cinzia DiGiulio, Merrimack College
“Scientists Become Monsters: The Strain’s Dr. Goodweather,” Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Session III: Friday, October 27, 4:30-6:00pm

PANEL 15 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Heroic in Fantastic Fiction
CHAIR: Shane Gomes, North Dakota State University
“Happy Endings: Frankenstein’s Creature as a Romantic Lead,” Maggie Damken, Independent Scholar
“Decentering Monsterhood: Blurred Histories, Genres and Narrative Identities in John M. Ford’s Fantasy The Last Hot Time (2000),” Angela Gustafsson Whyland, Southern New Hampshire University
“Guinevere, the Warrior Queen of Camelot?: The Altered Fate of Guinevere in Recent Comics,” Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar
 
 
Session IV: Saturday, October 28, 8:45-10:15am

PANEL 22 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New Approaches to the Fantastic
CHAIR: Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Princess Bride and Slavoj Žižek's Fantasy of the Real,” Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“Madness and Mixed-Bloods: Racial Metaphors in Seanan McGuire’s October Daye Series,” Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta
“Heredity And The Hero: The Role of Heredity in Shaping Popular Heroes and Why It Matters,” Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Session V: Saturday, October 28, 10:30am-noon

PANEL 29 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Re-Thinking the Monstrous
CHAIR: Heather Flyte, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
“‘If You're So Hungry, Why Don’t You Get a Job?’: Patrick Bateman as Neoliberal Monster and Hero in American Psycho,” Caitlin Duffy, Stony Brook University
“Tackling the Femme: The Psycho-Biddy Genre,” James Patrick Carraghan, Kutztown University
“The Aesthetics of Abjection in Anna Dressed in Blood (2011),” Nova Seals, Salve Regina University
“The Brides of Dracula Tell All: Dracula as Romantic Protagonist in Recent Neo-Victorian Fiction,” Terry Riley, Bloomsburg University

Session VI: Saturday, October 28, 1:30-3pm

PANEL 36 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 199 Years Old and Still Going Strong
CHAIR: Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University
“Frankenstein and the Real: A Psychoanalytic Look at Power and the Unconscious,” Emilie Lewis, Simmons College
“Coexistence of Gender Binaries: Bisexualism in Frankenstein,” Christopher Maye, California State University, Long Beach
“Modern Prometheus Bound,” Dennin Ellis, Independent Scholar

Session VII: Saturday, October 28, 3:15-4:45pm

PANEL 43 – CC 803 – The Fantastic: New England Horrors
CHAIR: Cheryl Hunter, University of Massachusetts Lowell
“Body Horror in Lovecraft Fiction and Film,” Shastri Akella, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“The Dead Past in New England Vernacular Poetry,” N. C. Christopher Couch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
“Tilting at Vampires,” Katie Gagnon, Independent Scholar