Ian Jayne

I spent the last eight years earning an MA and then a PhD in English, thinking deeply about the relationship between queer literature and contemporary life. I’m interested in what fiction—as well as film, television, and music—can teach us about one of the profoundest philosophical and ethical questions: What does it mean to be a self among other selves? In the twenty-first century, this question has taken on increasingly complex technological and social valences. As someone who has long been a stan—as well as a critic—of pop culture, I’m especially excited to teach a class about celebrity and the social world in the Engagements. In both the classroom and in my own writing, I try to ask big questions—and then to answer them as curiously and carefully as I can. As an instructor, my foremost aim is to cultivate a space of compassionate and thoughtful inquiry, where students can encounter new ideas and develop the skills they want to carry forward with them, into the world.