Soltysik Monnet Agnieszka

Soltysik Monnet Agnieszka

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My areas of specialization are cultural studies, gender and queer theory, the emotional and political work of genre (including melodrama, horror, American Gothic and adventure), and currently, representations of war. I have a background in film studies and work with cinema as well as visual culture and literature. In recent years I have taught and researched the role of genre in the affective and ideological role of narratives about combat and warfare — especially representations of military death — and am finishing a book on this topic. This project has taken me deep into the world of American nationalism, the cult of the flag, the highly ambivalent and symbolically charged role of the military, and the place of gender in American self-definition and political rhetoric. A recurring question that motivates my research is how art, literature and language can be used to promote social justice and a more sustainable future — and I have as a result been increasingly concerned with environmental issues. Finally, I have particular expertise on the following authors: Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Louisa May Alcott, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry James, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Maxine Hong Kingston, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, David Foster Wallace.