Sample Personal Statement English PhD.

Duke Ph.D. English

I vividly recall a conversation I once had with a Chilean friend of mine about why I was passionate about studying Modernism.  We were hiking in the hills just outside Santiago where the city outskirts disappear into the brush and I was struggling to explain to him how Ulysses continually evaded interpretation, how I kept coming back to Joyce’s novel, armed with Gifford’s annotations, but always struggled to settle on any one satisfactory thesis.  My friend was puzzled at my explanation and we stared out over the sprawl of the city together in silence.  How does one explain, in this late-capitalist world—a world that is increasingly caught up in the act of consumption—a fascination with a period of literature that consciously resists being consumed?  I believe that the best recent work in Modernism strives to do just that, by placing Modernist texts in constructive relation to today’s globalized, late-capitalist world.  I am fascinated by Fredric Jameson’s vision of high Modernism and mass culture as “objectively related and dialectically interdependent phenomena, as twin and inseparable forms of the fission of aesthetic production under capitalism”¹.  Modernism, especially when viewed as a product of the global process of modernization, can tell us quite a bit about our own postmodern reality (and vice-versa).

I am hopeful about several recently published works providing new insight into Modernist debates, including a resurgence of critical interest in Frankfurt School studies and, in particular, in the writings of Theordor Adorno².  I believe that this resurgence indicates the continued relevance, in an era of globalization, of the issues originally raised by the Frankfurt School, and by Modernist literature generally—issues of mechanical reproduction, aura, urbanization, nostalgia and the quest for a sense of community, to name a few.

As a graduate student, I hope to study Modernism, with a focus on the works of James Joyce, but from a more global, cross-cultural perspective than it has traditionally been viewed.  I believe the Duke English department is an excellent match for my interests for several reasons.  I appreciate the emphasis the department places on cultural studies and postcolonial literature. I am particularly interested in the comparative nature of the work of professors Michael Moses and Ian Baucom.  Professor Moses’ book, Globalization and the Novel, is one of the best studies I’ve seen examining modernity as a global, homogenizing force in literature.  Professor Moses was also my honors examiner my senior year at Swarthmore and I have been in contact with him regarding my interest in Duke’s program.

I am also interested in the possibility of working with some of the professors in Duke’s Graduate Program in Literature, particularly professors Fredric Jameson, Alberto Moreiras and Walter Mignolo.  I believe there is opportunity for interesting work exploring the relationship between postcolonial literature and high Modernist texts.  At Swarthmore, I minored in Spanish and have long been interested in connections I’ve seen between Latin American Boom literature and Modernism.  Professor Moreiras and Professor Mignolo would be excellent contacts if I decided to pursue this area of study.

My final reason for applying to the doctoral program at Duke involves my love of teaching.  I admire Duke’s commitment to train graduate students to be teachers as well as intellectuals.  During my three years of experience working with students in Swarthmore’s Writing Center, and now as an assistant English teacher in an international high school, I’ve come to realize that teaching literature at a college or university is a serious aspiration of mine.  I feel that at Duke, I would be able to work with faculty members who would challenge me to think about Modernism in new, cross-cultural and interdisciplinary ways while providing me with the tools I need to be able to challenge others to do the same.