Kiki Benzon * Curriculum Vitae * 04.07.11
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Office Address:
UH 810K, 4401 University Drive
Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada

vox. (001) 403 329 2713
fax. (001) 403 382 7191
k.benzon@gmail.com

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1. Education

Ph.D. English Language and Literature. University College London. 2007.
M.A. English Literature, University of British Columbia. 1999.
B.A. First Class Honours. English Literature, McGill University. 1996.
B.Sc. Neuroscience. University of Lethbridge. 2011 (expected).

Non-degree Courses: “Fashion and Costume Drawing” Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. July-August 2011.
“Arduino.” Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA. April 2010.
“Multimedia: Design for Visual, Auditory and Interactive Electronic Environments.” Digital Humanities Institute, University of Victoria. May 2008.
“Complex Systems Summer School.” Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Santa Fe Institute. Beijing, China. July – August 2007.
“An Introduction to Psychoanalysis Today.” The Institute of Psychoanalysis. London, UK. October 2002 – May 2003.

2. Academic Positions

Associate Professor of English Literature. University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Canada. July 2011 – present.
Assistant Professor of English Literature. University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Canada. Sept. 2006 – July 2011.
Visiting Lecturer in English. University of Hertfordshire. London, UK. Jan. 2006 – June 2006.
Tutor in English. University College London. London, UK. Sept. 2002 – June 2003 and Sept. 2005 – June 2006.
Teaching Assistant in English. McGill University. Montreal, Canada. Sept. 1999 – April 2001.
Teaching Assistant in English. University of British Columbia. Vancouver, Canada. Sept. 1997 – April 1999.

3. Teaching and Professional Interests

Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature: contemporary American and British fiction; modern drama; graphic fiction.

Literary and Cultural Theory: postmodernism; narratology; disability studies; psychoanalytic theory; text and image.

Science, Technology and the Humanities: multimedia art; writing and mental illness; electronic literature; creativity and the brain; neuroaesthetics.

4. Scholarship

a) Books

Curtis White: Memories of My Father Watching Television. Editor. Normal, Illinois: Dalkey Archive Press. Forthcoming, 2010. Part of the Dalkey Archive Casebook Series, this online book includes essays written by Joseph Conte (SUNY Buffalo), Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Pomona College), Joseph Tabbi (University of Illinois at Chicago), and Steve Tomasula (University of Illinois). Together with my introduction, these essays interpret White’s important postmodern novel from a variety of critical standpoints.

Writing Design: Image and Text from Surrealism to 9-11. Press pending. This collection deals with literary convergences of text and image. Some essays analyze the aesthetic, cultural, theoretical and narratological implications of “visual texts,” while others address historical and technical aspects of pictography and typography. In addition to my introduction, the volume includes fourteen essays by international scholars from a variety of humanities backgrounds. Topics include: images in protest literature (Zoe Trodd, Harvard), design and Brazilian avant-garde poetry (José Ignacio Padilla, Princeton), surrealist writing and the visual (Gavin Parkinson, Oxford), and works by Mark Z. Danielewski (Kiki Benzon), Jonathan Safran Foer (Elizabeth Rosen, Lafayette PN), Anthony Mannix, (Gareth Jenkins, Wollongong) and Tom Phillips, (Lisa Baird, Purdue). Foreword by W.J.T. Mitchell.

Schizoanalysis and Postmodern American Fiction. Press pending. In this work, I use schizoanalysis, the anti-deterministic psychoanalytic approach developed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, to interpret dynamic psychological processes in writings by Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, David Foster Wallace and Mark Z. Danielewski.

Text and Affect: Mental Illness and Contemporary Literature. In progress. This book explores the ways in which mental illness impairs, generates and permeates recent literature. I consider the current and distinct dynamics among mental illness, psychopharmacology, new media and the production of literary texts. Authors central to this study include Sarah Kane, Rick Moody, Susan Sontag, and David Foster Wallace—authors whose depictions of psychiatric conditions are uniquely perspicacious and formally complex. I aim not only to bring mental illness into current discussions about disability and narratology, but also to advance an interpretation of contemporary literature that is formally innovative, psychologically complex and socially relevant.

b) Articles

“The Binding Problem and House of Leaves.” American Book Review. 31.6. September/October, 2010.
‘”Yet Another Example of the Porousness of Certain Borders”: Chaos and Realism in Infinite Jest.’ Consider David Foster Wallace: Critical Essays. Ed. David Hering. Sideshow Press, 2010.
“A Dark Web: Depression, Writing and the Internet.” Depression and Narrative: Telling the Dark. Ed. Hilary Clark. New York: SUNY Press, 2008: 206-226.
“Darkness Legible, Unquiet Lines: Mood Disorders and the Fiction of David Foster Wallace.” Creativity Madness and Civilization. Ed. Richard Pine. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007: 187-198.
“Spatial Narrative, Historical Revision: Don DeLillo’s Underworld.” American Mirrors: (Self) Reflections and (Self) Distortions. Ed. Felisa López Liquete. Lejona, Spain: Basque Country University Press, 2005: 55-61.
“Holt and Rossi’s Untitled: Sacred and Secular Convergences in London.” Photoworks. Autumn/Winter, 2005: 36-43.

c) Interviews, Reviews and Short Essays

Interview with Steve Tomasula. electronic book review. Forthcoming, 2010.
Interview with Alan Lightman. Press Pending. Forthcoming, 2010.
Interview with Michael Moorcock. Interdisciplinary Humanities. Special Issue: Technoculture. 24.1. 2007: 143-151.
R Interview with Mark Z. Danielewski. “Revolution 2.” electronic book review. http://www.altx.com/ebr. 2007.
Interview with Marius Koceijowski. “Of Fools Mad and Holy.” Books in Canada. Spring, 2005.

Review of Dr Olaf Von Schuler’s Brain, by Kirsten Menger-Anderson. New England Journal of Medicine. 360:2262. May 21, 2009.
Review of Poets and Prozac: Mental Illness, Treatment and the Creative Process, ed. New England Journal of Medicine. 359:214-215. July 10, 2008.
Review of 1998.6, by Matt Roberson. “FC2 Tribute—With a Twist.” English Studies Forum. Fall, 2006.
Review of Edge of the Orizon, by Iain Sinclair. Books in Canada. Summer, 2006.
Review of Any Day Now, by Denise Roig. Books in Canada. Fall, 2005.
Review of Lang, by Kjell Westö. Times Literary Supplement. 15 July, 2005.
Review of America’s Magic Mountain, by Curtis White. “American Mann.” English Studies Forum. Summer, 2005.
Review of David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion. “Mister Squishy, c’est moi.” electronic book review. http://www.altx.com/ebr. 2004.

Essays. “Paul Auster,” “Don DeLillo,” “White Noise” (DeLillo), “Infinite Jest” (Wallace), “Skin Project” (Jackson), “The Unfortunates“ (Johnson), “Afternoon: A Story” (Joyce), “Pale Fire” (Nabokov), “Georges Perec,” “Sylvia Plath,” “Gravity’s Rainbow” (Pynchon), and “William Vollmann.” The Little Black Book of Books. Ed. Lucy Daniels. London: Cassell, 2007.
Essays. “Franz Kafka,” “Amerika,” “The Castle,” “The Metamorphosis,” “The Trial,” “Manuel Puig,” “Kiss of the Spire Woman,” “Alejo Carpentier,” “The Kingdom of This World,” and “The Harp and the Shadow.” Compendium of Twentieth Century World Novelists and Novels. Ed. Michael Sollars. New York: Facts on File, 2007.

d) Conference Contributions

“Deformity and Resistance in DFW’s Fiction.” Consider David Foster Wallace. Liverpool University Conference. Liverpool, July 2009.
“Enacting Cognitive Disorder in Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis.” Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference. Berlin, June 2008.
“Complexity, Literary Studies and Hypertext: The Case of Borges.” Institute of Theoretical Physics. Beijing, August 2007.
“Influence of environmental fluctuation on evolutionary strategy.” Poster presentation. Co-authors Trygve Bakken, Li Xin, Mu Yi-Fen, Ruan Xiao, Xia Xi and Zhai Jixian. Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. August 2007.
“Djerassi, Lightman and McMahon: ‘Double Nationals’ in Science and Literature.” ACA/PCA Conference. Boston. March 2007.
“Sanity and the Small Screen: Approximating Mental Illness on Television.” Society for Science, Literature and the Arts Conference. New York. November 2006.
“Aesthetics and Affect.” Panel chair. Society for Science, Literature and the Arts Conference. New York. November 2006.
“Psychopharmacology and the Creative Brain.” Co-author, George Hadjipavlou, M.D. Psychiatry. Society for Science, Literature and the Arts Conference. Chicago. November 2005.
“Darkness Legible, the Unquiet Line: Affective Disorders and the Fiction of David Foster Wallace.” Madness and Creativity Conference. Durrell Institute. Corfu, Greece. May 2005.
“Rebel Yells: Manga, Eugenides and 1950s German Film.” Panel Organizer and Chair. Coming of Age: Childhood and Adolescence in Literature and Film. Senate House. London, UK. March 2005.
“Killing a Capitalist: Locating Evil in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis.” Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness Conference. Prague, Czechoslovakia. March 2005.
“Wicked Undead.” Panel Chair. Perspectives on Evil and Human Wickedness Conference. Prague, Czechoslovakia. March 2005.
“Mnemonic Spaces in Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient.” International Society for the Study of Time Annual Conference. Clare College Cambridge. UK. July 2004.
“Postmodern Gothic: Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves.” Gothic Voyages. Paris, France. July 2004.
“‘They’re pissing on us, Harry!’ Critical Excretions in Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage and Thing Fish.” International Federation of Music Theatre Studies Conference. St. Petersburg, Russia. May 2004.
“Narrative Geometry in Don DeLillo’s Cosmopolis.” British Association for American Studies Conference. Manchester, UK. April 2004.
“Protest Music: The Sixties.” Panel Chair. British Association for American Studies Conference. Manchester, UK. April 2004.
“Deviant Realism: The Fiction of David Foster Wallace.” Narrative. Burlington, VT. USA. April 2004.
“Formal Mutation: Visual Art, Music and Text.” Panel Organizer and Chair. Mutations and Mutability: Encounters with Change. Senate House, London, UK. March 2004.
“Psychoanalysis and Postmodern Fiction: Time, Curves and Memes.” Panel Organizer and Chair. Culture and the Unconscious: Artists, Academics and Psychoanalysts in Dialogue. SOAS. London, UK. July 2003.
“Spatial Narrative, Historical Revision: Don DeLillo’s Underworld.” Spanish Association for American Studies. Vitoria, Spain. April 2003.
“Postmodernism, Critical Theory and Chaos: Paul Auster’s City of Glass.” Central New York Conference of Language and Literature. Cortland, NY. USA. October 2002.
“The Author and Technology in Don DeLillo’s Mao II and Martin Amis’s The Information.” Technotopias Conference. Glasgow, Scotland. July 2002.
“Historical Performance in Don DeLillo’s Libra and Underworld.” Twentieth Century Literature Conference. Louisville, KT. USA. April 2002.
“‘You think we’re singing about someone else’: Frank Zappa and the Politics of Satire.” Music and Poetry Conference. Liège, Belgium. April 2001.

e) Other Public Presentations and Invited Lectures

On Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, NY. Lethbridge Public Library. December 2011.
On J.D. Salinger. The Eye-opener, CBC Radio. 28 January 2010.
On Gus Van Sant’s Gerry. Lethbridge Public Library. 2009.
On David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. ESSL Film Series. September 2008.
On Lars Von Trier’s Manderlay. Lethbridge Public Library. December 2008.

5. Employment History

a) Teaching

Assistant Professor of English Literature. The University of Lethbridge. Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. July 2006 – present. Designed and taught all courses listed.

David Foster Wallace. Advanced seminar on DFW and his works.

Psychoanalysis and Literature. Advanced seminar on the development of psychoanalytic theory since Freud and its influence on literary work by H.D., Camus, Kafka, Nabokov, DeLillo, Palahniuk, and Danielewski.

Science and Fiction—Not Science Fiction. Advanced seminar investigating recent literary work that expresses conflicts, correspondences and mutual illuminations between science and art. Novels and plays by DeLillo, Djerassi, Frayn, Lightman, McMahon, Powers, Shelley, Sterling and Gibson, theoretical writings by Cowart, Hayles, Heisenberg, Kuhn, Paulson, Porush and Tabbi.

Contemporary Literature. Recent print fiction by Auster, DeLillo, Tomasula,White; hyperfiction and online writing by Joyce, Douglas, Cramer and Memmott. Some poststructuralist, psychoanalytic, cultural, and literary theory. Six themes: Narrative Innovation, Experiments in Genre, Historical Revision, Image and Text, Science and Technology, and Writing and New Media.

Modern Drama. Plays and dramatic theory from Ibsen to Beckett.

American Literature II. Poetry and prose from 1900 to the present. Social and political contexts informing literary development. Modernism, postmodernism, imagism, the Harlem Renaissance, the beat generation, protest literature, informationalism, cyberpunk.

Prose Fiction. From late nineteenth century to the present. Emphasis on narrative innovation and cultural context. Works by Brontë, Dickens, Foer, Ondaatje, Poe, Stein, Wallace and Woolf. Critical supplementation, including New Criticism, deconstruction, post-structuralism and new historicism.

From Sophocles to Hypertext. Introductory survey of English literature from antiquity to the present. Important themes and forms of the major literary periods, and the fundamentals of textual analysis.

Honours Undergraduate Thesis Supervision.
The Double in Contemporary Literature (Tellier, 2011)
Racial Hybridity and the Monstrous (Spenrath, 2011)
Beckett: The Image of Child (Daley, 2009 – 2010)
Masculinity in the Fiction of David Foster Wallace (Penn, 2008 – 2009)

Directed Reading Supervision.
Applied Studies in English (Sula, 2011)
Modern American Drama (Driedger, 2011)
Serial Killers and Fiction (Lowe, 2011)
Gender and Modern Drama (Yamamoto, 2010)
Psychoanalysis and Children’s Literature (Tollestrup, 2010)
Don DeLillo (Piper, 2010)
Cognition, Drama and Transformation (Luby, 2010)
Folk Art and Literature (Aardse, 2009)
Drawing the Line: Censorship and Graphic Fiction (Maher, 2009)
Creative Writing: Sexual Diversity (Godfrey, 2009)
Historiography and Graphic Fiction (Fenton, 2009)
Medical Humanities (McGale, 2009)
Theory and Practice in Electronic Literature (Kangasniemi, 2009)
Graphic Fiction and Contemporary Literature (Marco, 2008)
Politics and Utopia in Kurt Vonnegut’s Fiction (Saraceni, 2008)
Violence and the Novels of Chuck Palahniuk (Aardse, 2008)
Culture and Aesthetics in Don DeLillo’s Fiction (Fenton, 2008)
Electronic Literature (Angevine, 2007)

Graduate Supervision.
The Works of Mark Z. Danielewski. Primary Supervisor. (Aardse, 2009 – )
The Works of David Foster Wallace. Primary Supervisor. (Piper, 2009 – )
Miscegenation in Twentieth Century American Drama. M.A. Committee Member. (Driedger, 2009 – )
Comstock and Censorship. M.A. Committee Member. (Mahar, 2008 – 2010)

Visiting Lecturer in English Literature. The University of Hertfordshire. London, UK. January 2006 – May 2006.

Eighteenth Century Bodies. Upper-level undergraduate course focusing on women’s writing and ideas of gender, landscape and British society of the period. Works by Austen, Astell, Behn, Cleland, Dryden, Locke, Montagu, Swift and Wilmot.

Lecturer in English Literature. American Intercontinental University London. UK. September 2005 – June 2006.

Composition and Rhetoric. Lower-level undergraduate course covering grammatical and stylistic fundamentals of written expression. Readings included essays by Birkerts, Orwell and Russell.

The British Novel. Advanced undergraduate seminar on the theme of madness in British fiction. Authors included Amis, Barker, Dickens, Sinclair and Woolf.

Literary London. Intermediate-level course, using the city as both classroom and intertext through which to read work by writers from Shakespeare to Zadie Smith.

Teaching Assistant in English Language and Literature, University College London. UK. September 2002 – June 2003 and September 2005 – June 2006.

Narrative Texts. Foundational course for English Majors. A wide range of narrative work by authors such as Eliot, Milton, Morrison, Pope, Swift and Wordsworth.

Teaching Assistant in English. McGill University, Montreal, Canada. September 1999 – April 2001.

Twentieth Century British Novel. Amis, Barker, Carter, Green and Forester.

Modern Poetry. cummings, Eliot, Stevens, Pound and Yeats; emphasis on women poets, including Bishop, Brooks, H.D., Loy, St.Vincent Millay and Moore.

Twentieth Century American Literature. Cather, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Frost, Gilman, Hemingway, Hurston, James, O’Neill, Stein and Williams.

Introduction to Cultural Studies. Foundations in aesthetic and political theory, beginning with Marx, Freud and Foucault. Further essays by Adorno, Barthes, Baudrillard, Butler, Jameson, Kipnis, Morris, Radway, Said, Williams and others.

Teaching Assistant in English Literature. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. September 1997 – April 1999.

Approaches to Fiction. Basic concepts of genre and form. Methods of literary analysis. Selected poems and fiction from The Norton Anthology of Literature, Shakespeare’s Othello, Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Ondaatje’s The English Patient.

Approaches to Non-Fiction. Rhetorical principles informing effective discourse. Principally twentieth century texts, including Kapucinski’s The Emperor, Woolf’s Flush and essays from The Norton Anthology of Non-Fiction.

b) Other Employment

Antiquarian Bookshop Assistant. Any Amount of Books, Charing Cross Road, London, UK. April 2002 – June 2006.
Administrative Assistant for Disabilities Coordinator. Birkbeck College, London, UK. April 2002 – June 2003.
Research Assistant. Professor Miranda Hickman, McGill University. April 2000 – September 2000.

6. Awards and Prizes

Community of Research Excellence development Opportunities (CREDO), 2010.
Internal SSHRC Award, University of Lethbridge, 2010.
University of Lethbridge Faculty Research Award, 2009.
CSJ Award for 2 Research Assistants. Government of Canada, 2009.
STEP Award for Research Assistant. Government of Canada, 2009.
SSHRC Sponsored Scholarship for the Digital Humanities Institute, University of Victoria, 2008.
University of Lethbridge Travel Grant, 2007 and 2008.
University of Lethbridge Research Grant, 2006.
British Association for American Studies Postgraduate Award, 2006.
Travel Grant. Department of English and University College London, 2005.
University College London Graduate Studies Fellowship, 2004.
Overseas Research Scholarship. The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom, 2001 – 2004.
Travel Grant. Department of English and University College London, 2004 and 2002.
Conference Grant. Spanish Association of American Studies, 2002.
J.W. McConnell Fellowship, 1999.
Philip Martineau Scholarship, 1999.
Carol Coates Literary Prize, University of British Columbia, 1999.
McGill University Dean’s List, 1994 – 1995.

7. Administrative, Academic and Editorial Service

Editor, “Fictions Present” thread. electronic book review. 2009 – present.
Referee, Peer English, 2008 – present.
Referee, College Literature, 2008 – present.
Webmistress. Department of English. University of Lethbridge, 2006 – present.
Member of Search Committee and Fiction Award, Department of English. University of Lethbridge, 2008 – 2009.
Member Activities and Speakers Committee, Department of English. University of Lethbridge, 2006 – 2009.
Member of the School of Graduate Studies. University of Lethbridge, 2006 – present.
Co-founder and Associate Editor (2004 – 2005) and Editor-in-Chief (2005 – 2006) of Moveable Type, Department of English Postgraduate Journal. University College London. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/graduate/MThome.htm.
Member of Organizing Committee for Department of English Graduate Student’s Annual Conferences: “Coming of Age: Childhood and Adolescence in Literature and Film” (March, 2005) and “Mutations and Mutability: Encounters With Change” (March, 2004). Senate House. London, UK.
President of Department of English Students’ Association; Member of McGill Arts Undergraduate Society; Organizer of McGill Annual Literary Festival, 1995 – 1996.
Member of Equity, Hiring and Nominating Committees, McGill University, 1994 – 1995.

8. Creative Projects, Publications and Exhibitions

Cross-platform pedagogical game. Production assistant.”Exposure.” USC School of Cinematic Arts. July – Dec. 2011.
Textile books. “Pharmakon.” Critical Media Lab, University of Waterloo. September 2011.
Embroidery. “Angelenos Resting.” Needlepoint and Psychotherapy. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. June – July 2010.
Locative narrative. “No File.” Jeff Watson, co-creator. Archive and Innovate. Brown University, Providence RI. June 2010.
Textile book. “Neuron.” European International Book Art Biennale. Romania. August – September 2010.
Curator. “Makeshift Sacred Space.” Fotografia: Festival Logo Festival Internazionale di Roma. Rome, Italy. April 6 – June 3, 2007.
Fiction. “A Certain Pair of Shoes.” London: City of Disappearances. Ed. Iain Sinclair. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2006.
Textile sculpture. “Never London.” Rockhouse Gallery. Isle of Sheppey, UK. August 14 – Sept 10, 2004 and Hogarth House, London UK. May 1 – 21, 2005.
Music composition. Daypass. Pixelcat Productions. Dir. Deborah Chow. Columbia University Judges’ Official Selection. New York: February, 2002. Acquired by The Sundance Channel, 2003.
Costumes. Black Mash. Onibito Productions. Dir. Jeff Watson. Canada Council Funded Short Film. January, 2002.
Book, music and direction for musical adaptation of Plato’s Symposium. Montreal Fringe Festival, 2001.
Radio appearances. Resonance FM. Feral Choir. December 13, 2004; Resonance FM. Late Lunch. August 3, 2004; CBC Radio. Arts Report. July 14, 2001; CKUT Montreal. Art Now. 12 July, 2001.
Production and “Second Voice.” Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas. CKUT. April, 1998.

9. Professional Memberships

American Culture Association
British Association for American Studies
Don DeLillo Society
Institute of English Studies
International Federation of Theatre Research
International Society for the Study of Time
Modern Language Association
Society for Science, Literature and the Arts
Society for the Study of Narrative

10. References (letters held at dossier service, interfolio.com; please contact Kiki Benzon to arrange delivery)

Kasia Boddy, Lecturer in English
University College London
London, United Kingdom

Joseph Conte, Professor in English
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York, USA

Mark Ford, Professor in English
University College London
London, United Kingdom

Linda Hutcheon, Professor in English and Comparative Literature
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Gavin Parkinson, Lecturer in History of Art
Courtauld Institute
London, United Kingdom

Joseph Tabbi, Professor in English
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, USA

Michael Zeitlin, Professor in English
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, B.C., Canada