Readers/Writers

Elsa Kienberger received an MSt in English (1830-1914) at the University of Oxford in 2020 and a BA in English Literature and Theater (Acting/Directing) from Pacific Lutheran University in 2019. Always an avid fan of Austen film adaptations, she was forced to reconsider her favorites when she read Austen’s novels and found them much wittier. Since audiences often encounter Austen through the ubiquitous media presence her legacy has gained, Elsa is interested in the twenty-first-century’s interpretation of Austen’s gender commentary and imperialist tendencies, including present-day approaches to diversity and inclusion in adaptation projects.

Adela Ramos is Associate Professor of English at Pacific Lutheran University. She has written on Homero Aridjis, Henry Fielding, Maria Edgeworth, Jonathan Swift, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Her teaching of Austen’s work emphasizes environmental humanities, feminism, critical race theories, and digital humanities. She is interested in how we can integrate environmental awareness and culturally responsive pedagogies to our engagements with Austen in the classroom and the digital public sphere.

Madeline Scully received a MSc in Gender, Peace and Security from the London School of Economics and Politic Science in 2021. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2019 with a double major in English Literature and Global Studies (International Affairs emphasis) and a double minor in French and Women’s and Gender Studies. She has long been interested in Jane Austen, particularly the construction of Austen as a character after her death and how we understand her in contemporary readings.

Kathryn Einan is an English Literature and History double major from Pacific Lutheran University. She has interests in Austen’s novels as well as other classic literature and intends to focus her studies on them. She has enjoyed Austen’s books as well has film adaptations of those books ever since she was young. She has an interest in the values examined in Austen’s novels and the implications of them in modern society. The lasting implications of Austen’s works as they are adapted and retold in different formats is an interest to her. Looking at some of those retellings to look at preserved or altered detail fascinates her as it shows shifts in the purpose/message of the retelling. Through this project, she hopes to look at even more adaptions/retellings of Austen’s works and the messages they contain.

Abigail Kunkel is an English Literature graduate from Pacific Lutheran University with minors in History and Holocaust and Genocide Studies whose interests are also firmly rooted in the long nineteenth century- especially Austen. She is compelled by the intersections of gender, trauma, and race endemic to these areas of research. She is currently completing a Masters in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling in Scotland with the intention of pursuing a career in the publishing sector. It is hard for her to pinpoint exactly when she had her first engagement with Austen as she read all of Austen’s books while growing up and devoured the film adaptations in quick succession. Her initial enjoyment of the romantic and humorous elements of Austen’s work was later joined by an appreciation for the depth and sophistication of Austen’s often subversive moves, particularly in terms of gender. She hopes to explore this with this project as well as to discuss the place of Austen in contemporary society.

Kailey Rhone is a journal production editor for an academic publisher based in Maryland. She graduated from McDaniel College with a BA in English and a minor in writing. A longtime Janeite, she analyzed Persuasion through a Freudian lens for her senior thesis and later published it for the Jane Austen Society of North America. She has also presented at the Jungian Working Group’s James Joyce conference in Baltimore and writes regularly about historical film and television for Willow and Thatch. She is deeply interested in learning more about Georgian and Victorian social politics, culinary history, and how to sew her own wardrobe. Twitter: @underhillhobbit

Ariel Smith O’Neal graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2019 with a double major in English Literature and Technical Theatre and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. Ariel first encountered Jane Austen through film adaptations becoming captivated by the romantic plots that rivaled Disney. Later she read Austen’s novels, fostering a greater appreciation for Austen’s witty characters and social satire concerning gender roles. She is intrigued by the intersectionality of race within historical and contemporary adaptations of classic literature.

Katherine Voyles holds a Ph.D. in English from UC, Irvine. Her academic research focuses on the centrality of relations of scale to nineteenth-century narrative realism and appears in a variety of fora including Victorian Literature and Culture, Persuasions, and the V21 Collective. In non-academic life she works for the U.S. Department of Defense.

If you like our graphics, you should meet Rosemary Bennett (PLU ’20). She’s a passionate artist and designer, whose talent graces our logo, website, and Twitter account.