Rivka Swenson, PhD
Associate Professor
18th Century
Gothic
Education
- PhD in English Language and Literature, University of Virginia 2008
- MA in English Language and Literature, University of Virginia 2008
- MFA in Poetry, Virginia Commonwealth University 1999
- BA in English (Psychology minor), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 1995
Research Interests
- Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture
- Robinsonades
- The Gothic
- Popular Culture
- Material Culture
- Feminism
Select Publications
- “‘mushrooms, capers, and other sorts of pickles’: Remaking the Robinsonade in Peter Longueville’s The Hermit (1727).” Rewriting Crusoe: The Robinsonade across Languages, Cultures, and Media. Ed. Jakub Lipski. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP, 2020. 9–22. 2020.
- “The Crusoeiana: Material Crusoe.” Adapting the Eighteenth Century: Pedagogies and Practices. Eds. Sharon Harrow and Kirsten Saxton. U of Rochester P, 2020. 213–233. 2020.
- “Robinson Crusoe and the Form of the New Novel.” The Cambridge Companion to Robinson Crusoe. Ed. John Richetti. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2018. 16–31. 2018.
- “Secret History and the It-Narrative.” The Secret History in Literature, 1660–1820. Eds. Rebecca Bullard and Rachel Carnell. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2017. 117–133. 2017.
- Essential Scots and the Idea of Unionism in Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603–1832. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP. 2016.
Affiliations
- Modern Language Association
- American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
- Defoe Society
- The Johnsonians
- Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society
Courses
- The Gothic
- Fan Fiction: Revising H.P. Lovecraft
- Popular Culture Studies: Robinson Crusoe
- 18th-Century British Novel
- Reading Literature: Metafiction
Awards
- CHS Excellence in Junior Scholarship Award, College of Humanities and Sciences, VCU.
- Lewis Walpole Library, Yale/ASECS Fellow, short-term fellowship
- Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory, Manuscripts and Rare Books Library, short-term fellowship
- Chawton House Library, University of Southampton, short-term fellowship
- Folger Shakespeare Library, short-term fellowship