USC.edu

Mia Du Plessis

Associate Professor (Teaching) of Comparative Literature
Mia Du Plessis
Pronouns She / Her / Hers Email duplessi@usc.edu Office THH 161 Office Phone (213) 740-0102

Education

  • MA Master of Professional Writing, USC, 12/2014
  • MA , University of the Witwatersrand, 12/1998
  • Ph.D. Comparative Literature, University of Southern California, 1/1993
  • MA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1988
  • BA , Univ. of Pretoria, 12/1983

  • 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, State University of New York, Buffalo, Buffalo, Fall 2009
    • “‘Electrical Scheherazade’: Occult Networking and the Fin-de-Siècle” , “Modernism and Global Media,” Modernist Studies Association 10Talk/Oral Presentation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 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, American Comparative Literature Association, Long Beach , 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, 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 BTalk/Oral Presentation, Modernist Studies Association 9, California State , Long Beach, 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, The Harriman Institute, Columbia University, Columbia University, Spring 2007

  • Book Chapters

    • 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.
    • 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. ,

  • Office Hours

      Tuesday and Thursday : 3, Additional appointments were scheduled to meet students’ needs.
      Monday, Wednesday, and Friday : 3, Additional appointments were scheduled to meet students’ needs.
      Monday and Wednesday : 3, Additional times were scheduled to meet students’ needs.
      Tuesdays and Thursdays : 3, Additional appointments were scheduled based on students’ needs.
      Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays : 3 hours, Additional times were scheduled to meet students’ needs.
      Mondays and Wednesdays : 3 hours, Office hours were also held by appointment to accomodate students.

    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

  • 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