This fall, the Department of English welcomes Dr. Elaine Auyoung as a new assistant professor here at Minnesota. Professor Auyoung received her BA from Stanford in 2005, followed by a PhD in English from Harvard in 2011. She was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Associate 2011-13 at Rutgers University, where she taught Victorian literature and modern fiction. Auyoung is working on a book about, as she describes, "the surprising way in which nineteenth-century novels cue readers to feel as if vibrant, expansive fictional worlds exist beyond the printed page." At the same time, she notes, readers know that "nothing in the novel exists at all"--resulting in a cognitive dissonance that writers such as Dickens acknowledge and even encourage.
1. What led you to this research topic?
I've always marveled at how literary artists can seem to bring into being so much more than what appears on the printed page. At Harvard, my quest to get to the bottom of this phenomenon was continually inspired by the Cognitive Theory and the Arts Seminar led by Elaine Scarry, Anna Henchman, and Alan Richardson. This seminar is a haven for anyone fascinated by the deep relationship between artistic creation, aesthetic experience, and the capacities of the human mind. Over the years, I have learned so much from the psychologists, philosophers, art historians, linguists, neuroscientists, musicologists, and literary scholars who have shared their work with this group.
2. What is your favorite work to teach?
One of my favorite texts to teach is Great Expectations, because students tend to be surprised by how much they enjoy it. When students first come into my class, some of them aren't especially excited to be reading Victorian novels. (They're not alone: Henry James called them "loose baggy monsters.") Once we make our way into Dickens, though, these students invariably discover that nineteenth-century fiction is much less intimidating and much more accessible and entertaining than they expected.
3. What was the most intriguing book you've read this year? What was it about?
A dazzling book that I couldn't put down this summer is Michael Saler's As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality. Online fan communities that perpetuate the fictional worlds of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are commonplace today, but Saler, who's a cultural historian, returns us to the moment when English and American readers first began to inhabit imaginary worlds for long periods of time. He argues that participation in large-scale fan communities didn't emerge until the late nineteenth century, when Sherlock Holmes became the world's first "virtual reality" character. Saler's larger claim is that the ironic exercise of belief in imaginary worlds is a means by which we re-enchant modern life.
4. Where did you grow up? Is there anything from there you especially miss?
I grew up in California before moving to Massachusetts for graduate school. Something that I miss about the West Coast (besides the sunshine and the ocean, of course) is the scent of eucalyptus trees, which instantly transports me back to my childhood. I'm eager, though, to get to know the very different kind of natural beauty that surrounds us in Minnesota. I foresee many canoeing and cross-country skiing expeditions in my future.
5. What are you most excited about in joining the English faculty at Minnesota?
What really sets this department apart, I think, is its intrepid spirit. Its deep, longstanding commitment to exploring new ideas and scholarly approaches comes through in the remarkable range of scholarly and creative work pursued by faculty members, in the interdisciplinary projects invented by graduate students, and in the breadth of undergraduate course offerings that cover everything from Aristotle to Zadie Smith and from food writing to hip hop. There's a truly vibrant intellectual environment here that gives students and faculty the freedom to produce their best work.
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