Ph.D. Comparative Literature, University of Southern California, 1/1993
MA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1988
BA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1983
MA , USC
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
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
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
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
Advisement
Other Advisement or Time Devoted to Students
Served as director for Bryan Susman, "Fragmenting the Grand Narrative: _The Point_ of the Postmodern?," Comparative Literature, Spring 2010. ,
Spring
2010
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 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
Faculty Showcase presentation, Freshman Orientation: "Introduction to Visual Cultural Studies",
Fall
2010
Organized an event for College Commons, "Too Human: Law, Humanity, Limits",
Fall
2010
Faculty mentor, Learning Communities, USC College Advising,
Fall
2009
Organized College Commons event, "Projecting Mapping",
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