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Kimberly Fonzo, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, English

Kimberly Fonzo

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Bio

Dr. Fonzo specializes in late medieval authorship. Her work examines the ways in which medieval authors represented themselves as prophets and how those prophetic identities have been coopted by later audiences--a phenomenon that she has termed "retrospective prophecy." Dr. Fonzo also researches portrayals of the devil in the writings of medieval holy women and in medieval drama. Formerly a working actress, Dr. Fonzo also teaches Acting and directs student plays.

Teaching

Undergraduate

  • Medieval Literature
  • Chaucer
  • Acting
  • Study Abroad, Urbino: Boccaccio and Chaucer
  • Study Abroad, Urbino: The Influence of Dante on Literature in English
  • Senior Seminar: Courtly Love in Medieval English Literature
  • Senior Seminar: Medieval and Modern Drama
  • Honors College: Performing Literature Out Loud

Graduate

  •  Medieval Literature
  • Chaucer
  • Introduction to Graduate Study
  • Contemporary and Classic Drama in Conversation

Research Interests

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

Degrees

Ph.D in English Literature, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 
M.A. in English Literature, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 
B.A. in Theatre and English Literature, Hanover College 

Publications

Retrospective Prophecy and Medieval English Authorship. University of Toronto Press, 2022.

 “The Artless Devil in The Book of Margery Kempe.” The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 54, no. 2 (May 2024): 245-270.

“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): 13-32.

Contributions to Edited Books
“Teaching Medieval and Modern Drama Together,” Approaches to Teaching Medieval Drama. Ed. Emma Lipton and John Sebastian. New York: Modern Language Association, forthcoming.

“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, vol 43. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. 53-66.

“The Three Genders of Prophetic Authority in Christine de Pizan’s La Mutacion de Fortune.” Christine de Pizan. La scrittrice e la città. Christine de Pizan: L' Ecrivaine la ville. Christine de Pizan. The Woman Writer and the City. Ed. Giovana Angelli and Patrizia Caraffi. Florence: Alinea, 2013. 63-74.

Contributions to Reference Works
Entry on “Authorship and Authority” (article of 3000 words) for The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain. Ed. Sîan Echard and Richard Rouse. (Hoboken, NH: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). 210-214.

Book Reviews
Review of The Middle English Metrical Paraphrase of the Old Testament, ed. Michael Livingston. Journal of English and Germanic Philology 113, no. 3 (2014): 397-400.
e: Alinea, 2013.