USC.edu

Thea Tomaini

Professor (Teaching) of English
Thea Tomaini
Email tmtomaini@gmail.com Office THH 402J Office Phone (213) 821-1163

Research & Practice Areas

Early Modern England; Elizabethan/Jacobean poetry and drama. Area of specialization is monster theory and death fascination. Current Project: book manuscript on death in Early Modern drama.

Education

  • Ph.D. English, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1/1998

  • Research, Teaching, Practice, and Clinical Appointments

    • Professor RTPC English, USC, 2016-2017

  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    Early Modern England; Elizabethan/Jacobean poetry and drama. Area of specialization is monster theory and death fascination. Current Project: book manuscript on death in Early Modern drama.

    Research Keywords

    Reformation, 16th century, oaths, vows, ghosts, disinterment, Shakespeare, Spenser, Marlowe, Bale, Foxe, rhetoric, humanism.

    Research Specialties

    Early Modern England; Elizabethan/Jacobean poetry and drama. Area of specialization is monster theory and death fascination. Current Project: book manuscript on death in Early Modern drama.

  • Other Presentations

    • “Afterlives of the English Renaissance: Disinterment and Antiquarianism in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Britain.”, Lecture, Cincinnati, OH, 2012-2013

  • Book

    • Tomaini, Thea (Ed.). Bloomsbury Cultural History of Monsters, Early Modern volume. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing.Cultural History of Monsters–Early Modern Period.

    Book Chapters

    • Tomaini, Thea (Ed.). (2018). “Dealing With The Dead: Mortality and Community in the Middle Ages” (tentative title). Leiden: Brill.
    • Tomaini, Thea, Asa Simon Mittman (Ed.). (2018). Sea Monsters: Things from the Sea. Punctum.
    • Cervone, T., Leech, M., Massey, J., Tracy, L., Masciandaro, N., Faulkner, M., Calise, P., Cooper-Rompato, C. F., Coleman, D., Lethbridge, J., Herron, T., Mittman, A. S. (2012). Heads Will Roll: Decapitations in Medieval Literature and Culture. Heads WIll Roll pp. approx 250. Boston, MA and Leiden: Brill. PubMed Web Address

    Journal Article

    • Cervone, T. (2013). “The Corpse as Text: The Polemics of Memory and the Deaths of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell.”. Preternature. Vol. 2 (1), pp. 47-72.
    • Cervone, T. M. Staging Majesty in Bale’s Kynge Johan. ” Studies in Medievalism(2008): pps. 185-202.

    Monograph

    • Tomaini, T. (2017). The Corpse as Text: Disinterment and Antiquarian Enquiry 1700-1900. Boydell.
    • Cervone, T. (2011). Sworn Bond in Tudor England. MacFarland.
    • Original Poem, “Taco Truck,” published in WordRiver literary journal (UNLV), vol IV., 2011-2012
    • Original Poem, “University Village” Collier’s Magazine. Issue 1, September 2011., 2011-2012
    • Original poem, “Superlotto,” accepted for publication in Midwest Quarterly (forthcoming issue)., 2012-2013
    • original poem, “Folio 135r” Kadar Koli. Issue 10, “Off The Books,” ed. Lisa Ampleman and David Hadbawnik., 2015
    • Peer-Reviewed Journal, Associate Editor, Preternature (PSU Press)., 2015 –
    • Book Series, Editorial Board, Explorations in Medieval Culture series (Brill Publishers)., 2016 –
    • original poem, “Loved Letter,” “Laurel Canyon Boulevard,” and “His Old Lady.” Adelaide. Issue 18, November 2018., 2018
    • Interview, Print interview. “Bang! Goes the Universe,” USC Dornsife Alumni
      Magazine. Interview by Margaret Crable.
      , 2024-2025

  • Office Hours

      Monday, Tuesday, Thursday : M 10am-2pm; T-TH 11am-12pm., Or by appointment

  • Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Associate Editor, Preternature (PSU Press), 2016 – 2019
    • Editorial Board Member, Brill Publishers: Explorations in Medieval Culture Series, 2015 – 2019

    Professional Memberships

    • MEARCSTAPA; Society for Research of Monsters and the Occult in the Middle Ages (executive board), 2008 – 2013
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