Department of English
Perry Levitch
B.A. English, Barnard College, 2019, M.F.A. Poetry, New York University, 2023
Research Interests
Queer Theory/Gay and Lesbian Studies , Poetry and Poetics, 20th-Century and Contemporary, Early Modern Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Biography
My research investigates how contemporary transpoetics are uniquely and effectively leveraged to intervene in overly calcified language about the body. I am especially focused on the shift in transgender poetry that has occurred over the last near-decade away from testimonials about the naturalness of the trans body and towards more radical poetic forms that seek to dissolve preconceptions about embodied experience. My research connects and compares this motion to the early modern period, specifically the way poets have responded to the paucities of “straightforward” language with an ultimately more interesting turn towards image, metaphor, and omission.