Education

• MA , USC
• BA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1983
• MA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1988
• Ph.D. Comparative Literature, University of Southern California, 1/1993
• PHD , USC, 8/1993
• MA , University of the Witwatersrand, 12/1998



Conferences and Other Presentations




Conference Presentations

• ""‘Towards the 21st-Century Novel of Adultery: Notes on Marriage as Insistent Narrative Failure"", "&Now: A Conference of Innovative Writing and the Literary Arts", Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Abstract, Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, Fall 2009   
• ""‘Electrical Scheherazade’: Occult Networking and the Fin-de-Siècle"", "Modernism and Global Media," Modernist Studies Association 10, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Paper, Nashville, Vanderbilt University, Fall 2008   
• ""Cashing in on Death: Franchising ‘Snuff’ for Late Capitalism."", Presented as part of the panel, "Cinema/Life/Money: Reading Cinema in the Era of Biocapital" at the , Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Long Beach , American Comparative Literature Association, Spring 2008   
• ""Propping Up Fiction," presented as part of the panel, "Dysfunctional Fictions."", "&NOW 2008: A Festival of Innovative Literature and Art," (17 April 2008), Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Chapman University , Chapman University, Spring 2008   
• ""Hand-Painted Mass Reproductions from the Dream of Modernist Capital: Winsor McCay in Slumberland"", Presented as part of the panel, "Translating Visual Styles: The Transformation and Displacement of B, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Long Beach, Modernist Studies Association 9, California State , Fall 2007   
• ""Decadent Commodities and Narrative Objects in Gustav Meyrink's _Sonderbare Geschichten_ ('Strange Tales')"", "'A Leap from the Temple of Culture into the Abyss': Decadence in Central and Eastern Europe", Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Columbia University, The Harriman Institute, Columbia University, Spring 2007   



Publications




Book Chapter

• Du Plessis, M. (2007). "'Goth Damage' and Melancholia: Reflections on Posthuman Gothic Identities." In _Goth: Undead Subculture_. pp. 155-168. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.



Book Review

• Du Plessis, M. (2010). Review of Marianna Torgovnick, _The War Complex: World War II in Our Time_. _Oxford Literary Review_ , Edinburgh University Press. pp. 249-255.
• Du Plessis, M. (2007). "Fantasies of the Institution: The Films of Georges Franju and Kate Ince’s _Georges Franju_." Review of _Georges Franju_ by Kate Ince. _Film-Philosophy_.. pp. 94-102.



Essay

• Du Plessis, M. (2010). "The Terrors of Governmentality: _The Crazies_.". (Filippo del Luchese, Ed.). Florence. _Jura Gentium Cinema: Cinema and Globalization_. University of Florence.



Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works

• Poetry chapbook, A poetry chapbook, "Songs Dead Soldiers Sing," with the poetry chapbook press, Transparent Tiger Press, in Chicago, Illinois, in April 2007., 2006-2007   
• Installation , Installation piece. _1,000 Points of Light._ For the exhibition, _WITNESS: Veteran Activists Remember ACT UP/LA_, at Highways Gallery, Santa Monica, 30 November 2007-31 January 2008. , 2008-2009   
• Chapter of a novel published in an anthology, "The Carpet out of Time." In _The &Now Awards: The Best Innovative Writing_. Robert Archambeau, Davis Schneiderman, and Steve Tomasula, eds. Lake Forest, Illinois: Lake Forest College Press, 2009. 127-128. , Fall 2009   

Advisement

Other Advisement or Time Devoted to Students

• Served as director for Shaia Moore, honors thesis, "Gertrude Stein to Graphic Novels: The Image in Time," Comparative Literature, Spring 2010., Spring 2010   
• Served as director for Bryan Susman, "Fragmenting the Grand Narrative: _The Point_ of the Postmodern?," Comparative Literature, Spring 2010. , Spring 2010   
• Served as reader to Sarah Vita, "The Mystery of the Mysterious: Detective Fiction and Film Noir," English, Spring 2010., Spring 2010   
• Served as reader for Kaelin Burns, honors thesis, "Retelling and Recreating Adam and Eve in Science Fiction," English, Spring 2008., 2007-2008   
• Served as reader for Matthew Cieplak, honors thesis, "None of the Above: Postmodernism and Historical Fiction," Creative Writing and English, Spring 2008. , 2007-2008   
• Taught a two-day micro-seminar, "Reading Animals in Comic Books: Between Words and Images," as part of the "Welcome Week" for new students, University of Southern California, 23 and 24 August 2007. , Fall 2007   



Service to the University

Other Service to the University

• Organized an event for College Commons, "Too Human: Law, Humanity, Limits", Fall 2010   
• Faculty Showcase presentation, Freshman Orientation: "Introduction to Visual Cultural Studies", Fall 2010   
• Organized College Commons event, "Projecting Mapping", Fall 2009   
• Faculty mentor, Learning Communities, USC College Advising, Fall 2009   
• Presented "Signs, Words, Images: Reading Visual Culture" as a "Faculty Showcase" presentation as part of the "Freshman Orientation Session," 22 July 2008 , Spring 2009   
• Presented "Signs, Words, Images: Reading Visual Culture" as a "Faculty Showcase" presentation as part of the "Freshman Orientation Session," 22 July 2008 , Spring 2008   



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