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Kimberly Fonzo, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, English

Kimberly Fonzo

Bio

Dr. Fonzo’s research explores how prophecies within the works of medieval English authors have been coopted by later readers to promote religious and nationalist agendas. Her work also examines prophecy’s role on the early English stage, especially as it relates to portrayals of the Devil. As a hard of hearing scholar, she is examining how and why backstories came to account for the disabilities of characters and authors in medieval literature. Dr. Fonzo has taught Acting and directed a number of all-student theatrical performances.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • British Literature I
  • Medieval Literature
  • Chaucer
  • Acting
  • Study Abroad, Urbino: Chaucer in Italy
  • Senior Seminar: Courtly Love in Medieval English Literature
  • Senior Seminar: Medieval English Drama

Graduate

  • Medieval Literature
  • Chaucer

Research Interests

  • Middle English Literature
  • Early Theatre and Performance
  • Medieval Authorship
  • Prophecy and Apocalypse
  • Medieval Manuscripts
  • Women’s and Gender Studies
  • Disability Studies

Publications

  • “The Artless Devil in ​The Book of Margery Kempe​” (Revising for resubmission)
  • “William Langland’s Uncertain Apocalyptic Prophecy of the Davidic King.” Catastrophes and the Apocalyptic in the Middle Ages and Renaissance​. Ed. Robert E. Bjork. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. 53-66.
  • “Richard II's Publicly Prophesied Deposition in Gower's Confessio Amantis.” Modern Philology 14.1 (2016): 1-17.
  • “Procula’s Civic Body and Pilate’s Masculinity Crisis in the York Cycle’s ‘Christ Before Pilate 1: The Dream of Pilate’s Wife.’” Early Theatre 16.2 (2013): 11-32.
  • “The Three Genders of Prophetic Authority in Christine de Pizan’s La Mutacion de Fortune.” In Christine de Pizan. La scrittrice e la città. Christine de Pizan: L' Ecrivaine et la ville. Christine de Pizan. The Woman Writer and the City, ed. Giovana Angelli and Patrizia Caraffi, 63-74. Florence: Alinea, 2013.