Devoney Looser

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Devoney Looser
Devoney Looser 2019 (cropped).jpeg
Looser speaking at ASU's 2019 graduation
BornApril 11, 1967
Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
CitizenshipUSA
OccupationUniversity Professor
Spouse(s)George Justice
Children2
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship
Academic background
EducationB.A., 1989, Augsburg College
PhD, 1993, Stony Brook University
ThesisRethinking women/history/literature: a feminist investigation of disciplinarity in Lucy Hutchinson, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Charlotte Lennox, and Jane Austen (1993)
Academic work
DisciplineEnglish literature
Sub-disciplineJane Austen
InstitutionsLouisiana State University
University of Missouri
Arizona State University
Websitedevoneylooser.com

Devoney Kay Looser (born April 11, 1967) is an American literary critic and Jane Austen scholar. She is Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, where she focuses on women's writing and the history of the novel.

Early life and education[]

Looser was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 11, 1967,[1] and raised in White Bear Lake, Minnesota,[2] where her mother first introduced her to Jane Austen's work.[3] Looser attended and graduated from Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, Minnesota in 1985.[4]

As a first-generation college student, Looser received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Augsburg College in 1989 and later earned her doctorate in English with a certification in women's studies from Stony Brook University.[5]

Career[]

After teaching at Indiana State University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Louisiana State University, and the University of Missouri, Looser accepted a faculty appointment at Arizona State University in 2013.[5] Her first book was British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820, which examined British women writers and their contributions to historiography.[6] She followed this up with Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850 in 2008.[7]

In 2017, Looser published her third book, titled The Making of Jane Austen. This book focused on how Austen's popular influencers shaped her reputation, including as "a transnational figure used in support of women’s suffrage."[8]

In 2019, Looser brought back into view a forgotten fictional pen portrait of Austen published in an 1823 issue of The Lady's Magazine.[9] In 2021, she published discoveries about the Austen family's complex relationship to slavery and anti-slavery, which revealed the previously unknown fact that Jane Austen's brother, Henry Thomas Austen, had been a delegate to an Anti-Slavery Convention.[10]

Looser with Kevin Sandler and Whit Stillman after a screening of his 1990 film Metropolitan.

Recognition[]

In 2018, Looser was appointed a Foundation Professor of English for her outstanding faculty accomplishments.[11] In the same year, she was also awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award to research the sisters Jane and Anna Maria Porter.[12] It is scheduled for publication in 2022 by Bloomsbury.[13]

References[]

  1. ^ "Devoney Kay Looser". Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. Gale. February 9, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2021 – via Gale In Context: Biography.
  2. ^ Weirick, John (November 19, 2018). "No Plain Jane". augsburg.edu. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  3. ^ "Jane Austen on Wheels". augsburg.edu. April 6, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  4. ^ "I am a Pioneer". hill-murray.org. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Stoneman, Amanda (May 12, 2017). "ASU English professor fosters deep thinkers and problem solvers". english.asu.edu. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  6. ^ Kasmer, Lisa (2006). "Review of British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670–1820". The English Historical Review (491): 616. doi:10.1093/ehr/cel073. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Murphy, Patricia (2009). "Review of Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850". Nineteenth - Century Literature. 64 (3): 400–402, 435–436. doi:10.1525/ncl.2009.64.3.400. ProQuest 211937903.
  8. ^ Darcy, Jane (2018). "Devoney Looser. The Making of Jane Austen". The Review of English Studies. 69 (289): 389–391. doi:10.1093/res/hgx099. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  9. ^ Lewis, Britt (January 13, 2020). "A new way of picturing Jane Austen". english.asu.edu. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  10. ^ Looser, Devoney (May 21, 2021). "Breaking the silence: Exploring the Austen family's complex entanglements with slavery". www.the-tls.co.uk. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  11. ^ LaRue-Sandler, Kristen (August 31, 2018). "ASU English department's Devoney Looser named Foundation Professor". english.asu.edu. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  12. ^ Greguska, Emma (April 17, 2018). "ASU English prof to plumb lives of literary sisters with Guggenheim Fellowship". english.asu.edu. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  13. ^ "Book deals". Publishers Weekly. July 22, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2020.

External links[]

Bibliography[]

Retrieved from ""