Jan 20 – Guest Lecture “Writing In Between: Relationality in Siri Hustvedt’s and Zadie Smith’s Works” 🗓

This talk considers the works of Siri Hustvedt and Zadie Smith, two prominent contemporary writers and public intellectuals, as vital sites of relational border crossings. Foregrounding alternative imaginaries beyond personal, national, and disciplinary boundaries, Hustvedt and Smith develop polycentric and relational systems of knowledge and perception. Both writers activate feminist and transnational perspectives to question fixed categories of meaning and identity, inviting readers to consider the generative potential of living, thinking, and writing in between.

Dr. Marks is Professor of English and Co-Program Director of the Liberal Arts: Health Humanities program at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York. She received her Ph.D. from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Her monograph “I am because you are”: Relationality in the Works of Siri Hustvedt was published by Winter (Heidelberg University Press) in 2014, and she co-edited the volume Zones of Focused Ambiguity in Siri Hustvedt’s Works: Interdisciplinary Essays (De Gruyter 2016). Dr. Marks has also published articles and book chapters in the field of health humanities, examining the relationship between literature and health. She has taught courses in composition, cultural studies, American literature, and world literature at LaGuardia, Johannes Gutenberg University, Wagner College, Hunter College, and Columbia University. At LaGuardia, Dr. Marks particularly enjoys shaping initiatives that engage multiple disciplines to offer students integrated learning experiences, including learning communities, the First Year Seminar, and the Health Humanities option.

You can download the poster for the event here.