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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5960-2001

Date Available

5-4-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

English

Faculty

Jonathan Allison

Faculty

Matthew Giancarlo

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes authorship in contemporary American literature, harnessing the writings—prose and poetry—of Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, and Cristina García to challenge traditional classification and periodization schema. Hewing to the notion of authorship as a dilemma—a simultaneity of forces pressing upon the author, demanding a response—each chapter unravels critical moments of authorial expression that continually inscribe the importance of praxis and futurity. Comprehending authorship as a relational dilemma to be brooked, and indeed, overcome in a panoply of gestures, frees it theoretically from the perils of prior models by drawing attention to authorship’s agential and multi-modal aspects. Melding archival research and close reading, this study arrives at a more capacious understanding of the authors in question than had been possible in earlier frameworks, particularly post-structuralist models that once posited the “death of the author.” The study inaugurates new possibilities for a reappraisal of arduous questions pertaining to both authorship and identity.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.193

Archival?

Archival

Funding Information

This research was supported by the Doty Fund for support of English Department PhD students in 2024 and 2025

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