Flashlight batteries lasted around twenty hours in the 1980s. I know this because I had to change mine at least once every two weeks, having used up the juice hiding under my covers reading Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters when I should have been asleep, resting for the rigors of elementary school. Though at the time I could not explain my fascination with literature within the theoretical framework I now possess, reading literature then elicited the same excitement I now feel while entertaining the prospect of making literature my life's work. My passion for literature still thrives, though it naturally now moves in a more theoretical and specialized direction. As a Ph.D. candidate, I aspire to expand my study of 19th- and early 20th-century American literature by engaging in close readings of texts to illuminate the larger cultural and social considerations of the author, especially issues concerning national and gender identity.

American literature of the late 19th- and early 20th-century particularly interests me because of its self-consciousness and intensive interaction with its social and historical context. Survey theory classes provided me with the background to support and articulate my approach to American literature of this period: reading contextually and intertextually, focusing intensely on the historical and social backgrounds, and exploring history's role in writing literature and literature's manifold ways of writing (and re-writing) history.

A class in feminist and gender theory at Kenyon further exposed me to theoretical concepts focusing on specific cultural artifacts (inter- and extra-textual) to examine the historical development of gendered public and private spheres. Furthermore, I selected courses to supplement my English classes by providing me a broader perspective on cultural and historical concerns. My art history minor enabled me to delve into issues surrounding the production of visual art, adding to my knowledge of the cultural climate informing the production of literature. In "American Art, Pre-1900" I explored issues intersecting in painting and literature: the idea of the frontier as a hotbed of social anarchy, America as a reincarnation of the Roman Empire with more auspicious beginnings, and the relegation of female artists to the domestic realm -- because by transgressing to production they threatened the entrenched patriarchy.

My first major research endeavor incorporated many of my areas of interest in a project I designed entitled “Rome in the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination.” In conjunction with Italian professor Lorraine Richardson and funded by a McGregor Summer Scholar grant, this summer research project explored Rome as both a mythic legend and as a practical, cosmopolitan home to Gilded Age writers, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Mark Twain. I lived in Rome for the duration of the project to study the fruits of the cultural immersion these writers produced. Moreover, I used Hawthorne's "The Marble Faun" rather than a Baedeker as my guidebook in preparing materials for my presentation of the project to students and faculty upon my return to Kenyon.

My interests in extracting themes and issues from cultural observations and literary texts culminated with my honors thesis, "Hawthorne and James: Constructions of Women in Rome." In my paper, for which I received a distinction award and a rank of high honors, I focused on the links between the authors' conceptions of American womanhood and American females traveling to Rome in "The Marble Faun" and "Daisy Miller." Hawthorne and James present stereotypical, idealized women who travel to Rome only to fall from innocence into a devastating experience. On close examination of the texts, however, these deceptively simple stereotypes of American womanhood do not hold.

I argue that both authors reject these "types" as inadequate and complicate the gendered identities of Hilda and Daisy by transporting them to Rome. In doing so, Hawthorne and James expose contradictions and anxieties about the imprecise boundaries between masculinity and femininity, Protestantism and Catholicism, and innocence and corruption. These specific cultural encounters reveal the insecurities that Hawthorne and James harbored about American institutions, and I explore in particular why neither Hawthorne nor James allow his heroine to remain unchanged by their trips to Rome.

Building on my undergraduate work, I took two classes at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University this past summer. Hence, I am excited to continue working at the graduate level, further exploring 19th- and 20th-century American literature and extending my knowledge of Renaissance and Enlightenment authors and the modernists who sandwich my area of focus.

My two research projects provided valuable insights into research and writing, but one of the most rewarding experiences at Kenyon came in teaching undergraduate students as an assistant teacher in an introductory Italian course. Moreover, this experience helped confirm my desire to continue teaching. Friendships with Kenyon professors have also significantly impacted my career direction by challenging me and guiding my intellectual development. I look forward to teaching and research opportunities as a graduate student and plan to continue professionally within this field by becoming a professor at a university. I want to engage literary texts as both a student and a teacher, sharing and developing theories and interpretations within the dynamic intellectual community that this program will offer me.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

作為文科類(lèi)的PS，文章舍棄了文科類(lèi)PS一貫喜歡采用的天馬行空般的華麗寫(xiě)法，而是采用一種相對(duì)較平實(shí)的描述手法。文章一開(kāi)頭就表明自己作為一個(gè)PhD的申請(qǐng)者，有自己明確的研究方向。

接下來(lái)的文章，作者把描述的重點(diǎn)放在了自己的興趣以及做過(guò)什么樣的研究方面，給讀者一個(gè)比較邏輯的思考引導(dǎo)：正因?yàn)樽约旱倪@種興趣以及這樣的研究經(jīng)歷，所以可以推導(dǎo)出想要繼續(xù)深入研究的想法。也通過(guò)一些事例的運(yùn)用，表現(xiàn)出自己是一個(gè)有想法，有明確目的而且有完成任務(wù)能力的人。旨在顯出自己優(yōu)點(diǎn)以及表明自己具備一個(gè)合格的PhD申請(qǐng)者所需要具備的特點(diǎn)。

作為PhD申請(qǐng)的文章，作者也沒(méi)有試圖用生澀難懂的專業(yè)詞匯和專業(yè)理論去突現(xiàn)自己的知識(shí)豐富，使即使沒(méi)有很豐富文學(xué)背景的讀者也能看懂。

整篇文章都沒(méi)有什么華麗的語(yǔ)句，沒(méi)有靠夸張吸引人的故事，只是一些平實(shí)的描述，但卻可以成功地向讀者傳達(dá)作者對(duì)于文學(xué)的熱愛(ài)以及研究方面的能力。向招生委員們展現(xiàn)了的形象顯得真實(shí)可信。

譯文：

在８０年代，手電筒的電池大概能支撐２０個(gè)小時(shí)。對(duì)此我很清楚，因?yàn)槲颐扛簦矀€(gè)星期就得給我的手電筒換電池。作息時(shí)間明確的小學(xué)住校時(shí)期，該用來(lái)睡覺(jué)的時(shí)間以及精力我都花在了閱讀簡(jiǎn).奧斯汀和勃朗特姐妹的作品上。雖然那時(shí)尚不能用我現(xiàn)在正在構(gòu)建的理論框架去解釋我對(duì)文學(xué)的狂熱，但如今當(dāng)我構(gòu)思要把文學(xué)作為我畢生的事業(yè)時(shí)，依然一如當(dāng)初讀那些文學(xué)作品時(shí)興奮。我對(duì)文學(xué)的興趣仍舊是很強(qiáng)烈的，不過(guò)可能現(xiàn)在這種興趣朝更理論化和更專業(yè)化的方向發(fā)展了。作為一個(gè)ＰｈＤ的申請(qǐng)者，我希望能研究１９世紀(jì)和２０世紀(jì)早期的美國(guó)文學(xué)。通過(guò)深入的閱讀文章，能更大程度地體會(huì)到作者對(duì)文化和社會(huì)的關(guān)注，尤其是作者對(duì)國(guó)家和男女平等的關(guān)注。

我對(duì)１９世紀(jì)和２０世紀(jì)早期的美國(guó)文學(xué)特別感興趣，是因?yàn)樵谀菢拥纳鐣?huì)和歷史背景下，作品反映了一種自我反思以及強(qiáng)烈的交互感。修過(guò)調(diào)查理論課程以后，我有能力去著手研究那個(gè)時(shí)期的美國(guó)文學(xué): 根據(jù)上下文和進(jìn)行互文性閱讀，重點(diǎn)關(guān)注歷史和社會(huì)背景，探索歷史在文學(xué)創(chuàng)作中扮演的角色以及在文學(xué)創(chuàng)作歷史上，文學(xué)復(fù)寫(xiě)的方法?！?/P>

在肯楊學(xué)院修過(guò)一節(jié)女權(quán)主義和性別理論的課程以后，我更清楚了解到以某些特定的文化事件（文本和非文本）為中心的理論概念可以用于檢驗(yàn)性別理念在公共以及私人領(lǐng)域的歷史發(fā)展。同時(shí)，我也選修了一些英語(yǔ)的課程以便能在文化和歷史方面有一個(gè)更開(kāi)闊的視野。我副修的藝術(shù)歷史課程使我能夠深入研究視覺(jué)藝術(shù)作品周?chē)嬖诘膯?wèn)題，也增進(jìn)了在文化氛圍影響文學(xué)作品方面的知識(shí)。在“美國(guó)藝術(shù)， 1900前”中，我研究什么割斷了美國(guó)繪畫(huà)和文學(xué)之間聯(lián)系，發(fā)現(xiàn)領(lǐng)域觀念是社會(huì)政治混亂的溫床。作為羅馬帝國(guó)的再現(xiàn)，美國(guó)有更好的開(kāi)始，美國(guó)采取的是將女性藝術(shù)家圈定在國(guó)土的范圍內(nèi)的措施，因?yàn)槿绻运囆g(shù)家的作品在海外發(fā)表的話，他們害怕會(huì)影響確立的父權(quán)制。

我對(duì)于本專業(yè)的第一個(gè)研究是一個(gè)我參與了設(shè)計(jì)的項(xiàng)目，這個(gè)名為“19世紀(jì)文學(xué)想象中的羅馬”的項(xiàng)目包含了很多我感興趣的領(lǐng)域。通過(guò)與意大利教授洛林.理查森的交流，以及獲得麥格雷戈暑期學(xué)者的資助，我得以參加這個(gè)暑期的研究項(xiàng)目，該項(xiàng)目主要對(duì)神話傳說(shuō)以及現(xiàn)實(shí)中的羅馬進(jìn)行了研究：從流浪者之家到鍍金時(shí)代的作家，包括了納撒尼爾.霍桑，亨利.詹姆士，伊迪絲.沃頓和馬克.吐溫。完成項(xiàng)目的期間，我住在羅馬，研究了這些作家作品所創(chuàng)造出的文化氛圍。而且，返回肯楊之前，我在學(xué)生和老師面前作了一次陳述，我準(zhǔn)備材料的依據(jù)是霍桑的“大理石牧神”，而不是羅馬的旅游指南。

從文化觀察報(bào)告和文學(xué)作品中總結(jié)主題和找出問(wèn)題是我的一種興趣，這種興趣在寫(xiě)我的榮譽(yù)學(xué)生論文“霍桑和詹姆士：羅馬婦女的社會(huì)地位”時(shí)得到了極大的滿足。這篇論文使我獲得特別獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)和極高的贊揚(yáng)，我將論文的重點(diǎn)放在了關(guān)注霍桑和詹姆士對(duì)美國(guó)婦女社會(huì)地位的觀點(diǎn)以及在大理石牧神和戴西.米勒這兩部作品中，美國(guó)婦女在羅馬遇到的事情之間的聯(lián)系上?；羯：驼材肥縿?chuàng)造的女性角色都是很直觀立體的理想化女性，羅馬之旅，她們經(jīng)歷了從純真到墮落。更進(jìn)一步地閱讀文章以后會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)：其實(shí)，這些虛構(gòu)的簡(jiǎn)單的美國(guó)婦女形象是不存在的。

我的論點(diǎn)是這兩個(gè)作者也認(rèn)為這些形象是不存在，基于希爾達(dá)和戴西不完善和復(fù)雜的性別身份，作者才在文中安排她們的羅馬之行。通過(guò)這樣的情節(jié)安排，霍桑和詹姆士把男權(quán)主義和女權(quán)主義之間不明確的界限，新教教義和天主教教義，以及純真與墮落之間的矛盾和緊張關(guān)系曝露了出來(lái)。這些特殊的文化遭遇顯示了在美國(guó)的社會(huì)制度下，霍桑和詹姆士都產(chǎn)生了不安全感， 而我也特別解釋了為什么霍桑和詹姆士都讓他們各自的女主角在羅馬的旅行中改變。

有了本科學(xué)習(xí)的基礎(chǔ)，去年夏天我在紐約大學(xué)的文理學(xué)院上了2堂研究生的課程。為此，對(duì)于在博士生階段可以繼續(xù)我的研究我感到非常興奮。博士生階段的學(xué)習(xí)可以擴(kuò)展我在19世紀(jì)和20世紀(jì)美國(guó)文學(xué)方面的研究領(lǐng)域，也增加了我對(duì)自己的研究重點(diǎn)：文藝復(fù)興和啟蒙時(shí)期的作家和現(xiàn)代主義者方面的認(rèn)識(shí)。

我的兩個(gè)研究項(xiàng)目給予了我在研究和寫(xiě)作方面的珍貴洞察力，但我在肯楊最珍貴的經(jīng)歷之一就是作為助教給本科的學(xué)生上意大利語(yǔ)入門(mén)課。而且這份經(jīng)歷使得我堅(jiān)定了要繼續(xù)教書(shū)的想法。與肯楊教授之間的友誼也對(duì)我的職業(yè)規(guī)劃產(chǎn)生了較大的影響，他們挑戰(zhàn)我的同時(shí)也引導(dǎo)我朝專業(yè)方向發(fā)展。我期待在博士生階段可以有教書(shū)和做研究的機(jī)會(huì)，也計(jì)劃將來(lái)當(dāng)一個(gè)大學(xué)的教授，在專業(yè)的領(lǐng)域方面繼續(xù)發(fā)展。我想以一個(gè)學(xué)生，同時(shí)也是老師的身份，在文學(xué)作品的世界里自由翱翔。博士生的課程將提供給我一些理論知識(shí)和演繹的能力，然后在這個(gè)動(dòng)態(tài)的知識(shí)社會(huì)里，我將分享和發(fā)展我的這些理論和能力。