Rank
Associate Professor
Educational Background
PhD English, The Pennsylvania State University, 2008
MA English, The Pennsylvania State University, 2003
BA English, The College of Wooster, 2001.
Interests and Specializations
Nineteenth-century British literature, especially poetry; genre fiction; children’s / young adult literature; disability in literature; science in literature; women’s and gender studies
About
Dr. Treftz’s most recent research in her field of expertise has focused on how nineteenth-century poetry engaged with nineteenth-century scientific theories and practices, but she is also continuing with some of her dissertation research, which deals with gender and poetic identity in the late Romantic/early Victorian period.
The breadth of Dr. Treftz’s research interests is reflected in the courses she has taught. She regularly teaches courses in Romantic poetry, Victorian poetry, fantasy literature, and Women Writers, and occasionally teaches special topics or seminars on subjects like Harry Potter, Jane Austen, the Pre-Raphaelites, and the fallen woman.
In the classroom, she is particularly invested in lessening students’ anxieties about the study of poetry and, especially in the Women Writers class, encouraging them to seek out a wider variety of texts than she is able to include in a single semester.
Selected Publications
“Tennyson’s The Princess and the Culture of Collection.” Forthcoming. Victorian Literature and Culture 44.2 (2016).
“‘All Little Girls are Terrible’: Maud as Anti-Villain in Catherynne M. Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.” A Quest of Her Own: Essays on the Female Hero in Modern Fantasy. Ed. Lori M. Campbell. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2014. 248-66.
“The Significance of the Hawthorn Branch in William Wordsworth’s Peter Bell.” ANQ 26.1 (2013): 27-30.