Claire Falck

Visiting Assistant Professor of English

Contact 309-341-7175 cfalck@knox.edu

General Interests
"I received a B.A. from Bowdoin College, and a M.A. and Ph.D. (2011) in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My dissertation, 'Radiant Shrines,' analyzes images of God in early modern English poetry, and argues that poets such as Mary Sidney, John Donne, George Herbert, John Milton, and Lucy Hutchinson forged new paradigms for apprehending and experiencing God by redefining the function and capacity of literary forms.

I have articles forthcoming from the John Donne Journal and Studies in English Literature, and my current scholarly interests in the field of early modern literature include generic and new formalist theory, religious and devotional practices, space and place theory, visual culture studies, and the history of images and iconoclasm in Reformation aesthetics. My teaching concentrates on late medieval and early modern English literature, including the works of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, Donne, Herbert, and Milton."

Years at Knox: 2011 to present

Education
Ph.D., English/Early Modern Literature, 2011, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
M.A., English, with distinction, 2006, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
B.A., English/Art History/Visual Art, 2005, Bowdoin College, summa cum laude.

Teaching Interests
Early modern literature, Shakespeare, Milton

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants
Wisconsin-Madison University Dissertator Fellowship, 2010.
Henry W. Longfellow Graduate Scholarship - Awarded by Bowdoin College to a Bowdoin graduate to pursue graduate work in English literature, 2009 and 2010.
Nathan Webb Research Scholarship - Awarded by Bowdoin College to a Bowdoin graduate to pursue study towards a Ph.D, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010.
Chair's Ph.D. Prize - Awarded by the UW-Madison Department of English for the best research paper written by a Ph.D. student, 2008.
Charles Carroll Everett Scholarship - Awarded to that graduate of Bowdoin College whom the
President and Faculty deem the best qualified to take a postgraduate course in either this or
some other country, 2005, 2006, and 2008.
Distinction, University of Wisconsin-Madison Preliminary Examination, 2008.
Distinction, University of Wisconsin-Madison M.A. Examination, 2006.
Wisconsin-Madison University Fellowship, 2005.
Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Maine, 2005.

Publications
"Heavenly Lineaments: The Invisible Church in Foxe and Spenser." SEL Studies in English Literature. Vol. 53 No. 1. (Winter 2013). Forthcoming. 35 typescript pages.

"Purer Spheres: The Space Systems of Donne's Courtly Epithalamions." John Donne Journal. Vol. 30 (2011). Forthcoming. 34 typescript pages.

Presentations
"'Shadows of Elyisum': Cymbeline's Ghostly Masque and Providential Excess." Seminar on "The Shakespearean Immaterial." Shakespeare Association of America 39th Annual Meeting, Chicago Illinois, 2010.

"Aspiring Up: The Countess of Pembroke and Early Modern Psalm Translation." Early Modern Humanism and the Humanities. Center for Early Modern Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010.

"'The Sunn-Beames of thy Face': Re-Revealing God In Pembroke's Psalmes." New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Sarasota, Florida, 2010.

"Radiant Images: Unfallen Iconoclasm in Paradise Lost." The Conference on John Milton, Murfreesboro Tennessee, 2009.

"Dirty Gods and Dainty Trims: Genre and Deceptive Aesthetics in Cymbeline." Seminar on "Generic Change in Context." Shakespeare Association of America 37th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., 2009.

"A Meeting of the Petty Gods: Elizabethan Entertainments and The Winter's Tale." Seminar on "Shakespeare and the Court." Shakespeare Association of America 36th Annual Meeting, Dallas Texas, 2008.

"'Preventing the Sun': Space Systems and the Somerset Epithalamion." 23rd Annual John Donne Society Conference, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 2008.

"Diminishing Titles: The Queen's Presence in The Lady of May." Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies Conference, Chicago Illinois, 2007.

"'Contra, by Christ!': The Dialogues of Piers Plowman." MADLIT Graduate Student Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006.

Professional Service
Planning Committee Member of the Renaissance Colloquium, 2007-2010.

Chair of the English Graduate Student Association (GSA) and Conference Coordinator for the 2008 MADLIT graduate student conference, 2007-2008.

Treasurer of the English Graduate Student Association and Committee Member for the 2007 MADLIT graduate student conference, 2006-2007.

Member of the English Graduate Student Association and Committee Member for the 2006 MADLIT graduate student conference, 2005-2006.

Graduate Student Mentor. Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006-2008.

Organizing Member of the "Peter Straub Symposium on Literature and Popular Culture" at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2005-2006.

Campus & Community Involvement
Member, Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Member, The Sidney Society, 2009.
Member, Milton Society of America, 2009.
Member, John Donne Society, 2008.
Member, Shakespeare Association of America, 2007.