American Literature专业申请文书

Flashlight batteries lasted around twenty hours in the 1980s. I know this because I had to change mine at least once every two weeks, having used up the juice hiding under my covers reading Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters when I should have been asleep, resting for the rigors of elementary school. Though at the time I could not explain my fascination with literature within the theoretical framework I now possess, reading literature then elicited the same excitement I now feel while entertaining the prospect of making literature my life's work. My passion for literature still thrives, though it naturally now moves in a more theoretical and specialized direction. As a Ph.D. candidate, I aspire to expand my study of 19th- and early 20th-century American literature by engaging in close readings of texts to illuminate the larger cultural and social considerations of the author, especially issues concerning national and gender identity.

American literature of the late 19th- and early 20th-century particularly interests me because of its self-consciousness and intensive interaction with its social and historical context. Survey theory classes provided me with the background to support and articulate my approach to American literature of this period: reading contextually and intertextually, focusing intensely on the historical and social backgrounds, and exploring history's role in writing literature and literature's manifold ways of writing (and re-writing) history.

A class in feminist and gender theory at Kenyon further exposed me to theoretical concepts focusing on specific cultural artifacts (inter- and extra-textual) to examine the historical development of gendered public and private spheres. Furthermore, I selected courses to supplement my English classes by providing me a broader perspective on cultural and historical concerns. My art history minor enabled me to delve into issues surrounding the production of visual art, adding to my knowledge of the cultural climate informing the production of literature. In "American Art, Pre-1900" I explored issues intersecting in painting and literature: the idea of the frontier as a hotbed of social anarchy, America as a reincarnation of the Roman Empire with more auspicious beginnings, and the relegation of female artists to the domestic realm -- because by transgressing to production they threatened the entrenched patriarchy.

My first major research endeavor incorporated many of my areas of interest in a project I designed entitled “Rome in the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination.” In conjunction with Italian professor Lorraine Richardson and funded by a McGregor Summer Scholar grant, this summer research project explored Rome as both a mythic legend and as a practical, cosmopolitan home to Gilded Age writers, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Mark Twain. I lived in Rome for the duration of the project to study the fruits of the cultural immersion these writers produced. Moreover, I used Hawthorne's "The Marble Faun" rather than a Baedeker as my guidebook in preparing materials for my presentation of the project to students and faculty upon my return to Kenyon.

My interests in extracting themes and issues from cultural observations and literary texts culminated with my honors thesis, "Hawthorne and James: Constructions of Women in Rome." In my paper, for which I received a distinction award and a rank of high honors, I focused on the links between the authors' conceptions of American womanhood and American females traveling to Rome in "The Marble Faun" and "Daisy Miller." Hawthorne and James present stereotypical, idealized women who travel to Rome only to fall from innocence into a devastating experience. On close examination of the texts, however, these deceptively simple stereotypes of American womanhood do not hold.

I argue that both authors reject these "types" as inadequate and complicate the gendered identities of Hilda and Daisy by transporting them to Rome. In doing so, Hawthorne and James expose contradictions and anxieties about the imprecise boundaries between masculinity and femininity, Protestantism and Catholicism, and innocence and corruption. These specific cultural encounters reveal the insecurities that Hawthorne and James harbored about American institutions, and I explore in particular why neither Hawthorne nor James allow his heroine to remain unchanged by their trips to Rome.

Building on my undergraduate work, I took two classes at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University this past summer. Hence, I am excited to continue working at the graduate level, further exploring 19th- and 20th-century American literature and extending my knowledge of Renaissance and Enlightenment authors and the modernists who sandwich my area of focus.

My two research projects provided valuable insights into research and writing, but one of the most rewarding experiences at Kenyon came in teaching undergraduate students as an assistant teacher in an introductory Italian course. Moreover, this experience helped confirm my desire to continue teaching. Friendships with Kenyon professors have also significantly impacted my career direction by challenging me and guiding my intellectual development. I look forward to teaching and research opportunities as a graduate student and plan to continue professionally within this field by becoming a professor at a university. I want to engage literary texts as both a student and a teacher, sharing and developing theories and interpretations within the dynamic intellectual community that this program will offer me.

点评：

作为文科类的PS，文章舍弃了文科类PS一贯喜欢采用的天马行空般的华丽写法，而是采用一种相对较平实的描述手法。文章一开头就表明自己作为一个PhD的申请者，有自己明确的研究方向。

接下来的文章，作者把描述的重点放在了自己的兴趣以及做过什么样的研究方面，给读者一个比较逻辑的思考引导：正因为自己的这种兴趣以及这样的研究经历，所以可以推导出想要继续深入研究的想法。也通过一些事例的运用，表现出自己是一个有想法，有明确目的而且有完成任务能力的人。旨在显出自己优点以及表明自己具备一个合格的PhD申请者所需要具备的特点。

作为PhD申请的文章，作者也没有试图用生涩难懂的专业词汇和专业理论去突现自己的知识丰富，使即使没有很丰富文学背景的读者也能看懂。

整篇文章都没有什么华丽的语句，没有靠夸张吸引人的故事，只是一些平实的描述，但却可以成功地向读者传达作者对于文学的热爱以及研究方面的能力。向招生委员们展现了的形象显得真实可信。

译文：

在８０年代，手电筒的电池大概能支撑２０个小时。对此我很清楚，因为我每隔２个星期就得给我的手电筒换电池。作息时间明确的小学住校时期，该用来睡觉的时间以及精力我都花在了阅读简.奥斯汀和勃朗特姐妹的作品上。虽然那时尚不能用我现在正在构建的理论框架去解释我对文学的狂热，但如今当我构思要把文学作为我毕生的事业时，依然一如当初读那些文学作品时兴奋。我对文学的兴趣仍旧是很强烈的，不过可能现在这种兴趣朝更理论化和更专业化的方向发展了。作为一个ＰｈＤ的申请者，我希望能研究１９世纪和２０世纪早期的美国文学。通过深入的阅读文章，能更大程度地体会到作者对文化和社会的关注，尤其是作者对国家和男女平等的关注。

我对１９世纪和２０世纪早期的美国文学特别感兴趣，是因为在那样的社会和历史背景下，作品反映了一种自我反思以及强烈的交互感。修过调查理论课程以后，我有能力去着手研究那个时期的美国文学: 根据上下文和进行互文性阅读，重点关注历史和社会背景，探索历史在文学创作中扮演的角色以及在文学创作历史上，文学复写的方法。　

在肯杨学院修过一节女权主义和性别理论的课程以后，我更清楚了解到以某些特定的文化事件（文本和非文本）为中心的理论概念可以用于检验性别理念在公共以及私人领域的历史发展。同时，我也选修了一些英语的课程以便能在文化和历史方面有一个更开阔的视野。我副修的艺术历史课程使我能够深入研究视觉艺术作品周围存在的问题，也增进了在文化氛围影响文学作品方面的知识。在“美国艺术， 1900前”中，我研究什么割断了美国绘画和文学之间联系，发现领域观念是社会政治混乱的温床。作为罗马帝国的再现，美国有更好的开始，美国采取的是将女性艺术家圈定在国土的范围内的措施，因为如果女性艺术家的作品在海外发表的话，他们害怕会影响确立的父权制。

我对于本专业的第一个研究是一个我参与了设计的项目，这个名为“19世纪文学想象中的罗马”的项目包含了很多我感兴趣的领域。通过与意大利教授洛林.理查森的交流，以及获得麦格雷戈暑期学者的资助，我得以参加这个暑期的研究项目，该项目主要对神话传说以及现实中的罗马进行了研究：从流浪者之家到镀金时代的作家，包括了纳撒尼尔.霍桑，亨利.詹姆士，伊迪丝.沃顿和马克.吐温。完成项目的期间，我住在罗马，研究了这些作家作品所创造出的文化氛围。而且，返回肯杨之前，我在学生和老师面前作了一次陈述，我准备材料的依据是霍桑的“大理石牧神”，而不是罗马的旅游指南。

从文化观察报告和文学作品中总结主题和找出问题是我的一种兴趣，这种兴趣在写我的荣誉学生论文“霍桑和詹姆士：罗马妇女的社会地位”时得到了极大的满足。这篇论文使我获得特别奖励和极高的赞扬，我将论文的重点放在了关注霍桑和詹姆士对美国妇女社会地位的观点以及在大理石牧神和戴西.米勒这两部作品中，美国妇女在罗马遇到的事情之间的联系上。霍桑和詹姆士创造的女性角色都是很直观立体的理想化女性，罗马之旅，她们经历了从纯真到堕落。更进一步地阅读文章以后会发现：其实，这些虚构的简单的美国妇女形象是不存在的。

我的论点是这两个作者也认为这些形象是不存在，基于希尔达和戴西不完善和复杂的性别身份，作者才在文中安排她们的罗马之行。通过这样的情节安排，霍桑和詹姆士把男权主义和女权主义之间不明确的界限，新教教义和天主教教义，以及纯真与堕落之间的矛盾和紧张关系曝露了出来。这些特殊的文化遭遇显示了在美国的社会制度下，霍桑和詹姆士都产生了不安全感， 而我也特别解释了为什么霍桑和詹姆士都让他们各自的女主角在罗马的旅行中改变。

有了本科学习的基础，去年夏天我在纽约大学的文理学院上了2堂研究生的课程。为此，对于在博士生阶段可以继续我的研究我感到非常兴奋。博士生阶段的学习可以扩展我在19世纪和20世纪美国文学方面的研究领域，也增加了我对自己的研究重点：文艺复兴和启蒙时期的作家和现代主义者方面的认识。

我的两个研究项目给予了我在研究和写作方面的珍贵洞察力，但我在肯杨最珍贵的经历之一就是作为助教给本科的学生上意大利语入门课。而且这份经历使得我坚定了要继续教书的想法。与肯杨教授之间的友谊也对我的职业规划产生了较大的影响，他们挑战我的同时也引导我朝专业方向发展。我期待在博士生阶段可以有教书和做研究的机会，也计划将来当一个大学的教授，在专业的领域方面继续发展。我想以一个学生，同时也是老师的身份，在文学作品的世界里自由翱翔。博士生的课程将提供给我一些理论知识和演绎的能力，然后在这个动态的知识社会里，我将分享和发展我的这些理论和能力。