Elgin Kirsten Eckert is completing her PhD in Italian literature at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. She has been a Teaching Assistant in the departments of Romance Languages and Literatures and Classical Philology at Harvard University for the past ten years and has won the Derek Bok Center's Certificate for Excellence in Teaching numerous times. She has been the Assistant Program Director of the Harvard Summer School's Program in Vasto (Abruzzo, Italy) and the Assistant Dean of Harvard-Ca' Foscari's Summer School in Venice. In Summer 2009 she is the Program Director and Academic Coordinator for Harvard SUmmer School's Advanced Italian Language and Internship program (Ital. 96r-s), offered in conjunction with the Carla Rossi Academy.
Elgin initially completed
a Master's degree in Classical Philology before turning her attentions more
seriously to Italian literature, but one of her main areas of interest remains
the influence of Ancient Greek authors on Italian writers. Her doctoral thesis
focuses entirely on Italian contemporary literature, though, and is entitled
Andrea Camilleri and the new Sicilian Aesthetic. Her publications include
articles on Plato, Dante, Thucydides, Manzoni, and Andrea Camilleri as well
as non-academic poetry and fiction.
In her spare time, Elgin enjoys hiking, ashtanga yoga, travelling and spending time with her daughter. She hopes to be completing a travel-guide to places described by Dante in his Divine Comedy in the not too distant future.
Education
A.B.D. in Italian Literature
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA December 2004
Visiting Scholar 2003-04,
2004-05
Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
Master of Arts in Classical
Philology June 1998
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Bachelor of Arts summa
cum laude with Honors in Classics September 1996
Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY
Conferences and Talks
"Giallo in città:
regionalità nella giallistica italiana contemporanea."
Public Lecture in Vasto (Abruzzo) sponsored by the region of Abruzzo, the city
of Vasto and the Harvard University Summer Program, July 7th, 2007.
"Some basic uses
of RAI Streaming Video Programming at all Levels of University Italian Instruction"
"Convegno sull'insegnamento dell'Italiano" sponsored by the Italian
Consulate General of Boston
(Cambridge, MA) on May 12, 2007.
"Regionality in Modern
Italian Crime Fiction"
Public Lecture delivered as part of the "Dudley House Crosstalks"
series at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) on November 17, 2006
"Montalbano e la
cucina: quando la letteratura sposa la gastronomia."
Public Lecture in Vasto (Abruzzo) sponsored by the region of Abruzzo, the city
of Vasto and the Harvard University Summer Program, July 4th, 2006.
"I luoghi di Dante:
un approccio diverso ad una lettura della Divina Commedia."
Guest Lecture at the Carla Rossi Academy for Dante Studies, June 11th, 2006
in Monsummano-Firenze, Italy.
"Camilleri in the
classroom and Montalbano beyond the RAI."
Paper delivered at the "AAIS-AATI Conference", May 24-27 2006 in Genova,
Italy.
"Andrea Camilleri
and the New Sicilian Literary Tradition"
Paper delivered at the "Second Annual Robert Dombrowski Memorial Conference",
Sept. 17-18, 2005 in Storrs, CT.
"Il Bildungsroman
come definito da Wilhelm Dilthey e la trama dell'eroe Ruggiero nell'interno
dell'Orlando furioso di Ariosto."
Guest Lecture at the Carla Rossi Academy for Dante Studies, June 15th, 2005
in Monsummano-Firenze, Italy.
"Le tradizioni letterari
di Andrea Camilleri"
Guest Lecture at the Carla Rossi Academy for Dante Studies, June 15th, 2005
in Monsummano- Firenze, Italy.
"Il Bildungsroman
di Ruggiero nell'interno dell'Orlando furioso di Ariosto"
Paper delivered at the "First Annual Robert Dombrowski Memorial Conference",
Sept. 10-12, 2004 in Storrs, CT.
"Murder in Sicily:
Commissario Montalbano talks about his Literary Traditions"
Paper delivered at the "Murder and Mayhem: Crime in the Mare Nostrum"
Conference, July 5-7, 2004 in Prato, Italy.
"Contempt and Popularity:
Commissario Montalbano faces Andrea Camilleri's critics"
Paper delivered at the "Boston College Romance Studies Conference",
March 26-27, 2004 in Boston, MA.
"Dall'intelletto
alla realtà divina: Platone, San Paolo e Dante e l'uso della parola sogno."
Guest Lecture at the Carla Rossi Academy for Dante Studies, June 30th, 2004
in Monsummano-Firenze, Italy.
"Cosa faranno di
noi?" The Holocaust in Italian Literary Fiction
Paper delivered at the Modern Languages Association (MLA) Annual Conference
Dec. 27-30, 2002 in New York City.
Publications
"Murder in Sicily:
Commissario Montalbano Talks About His Author's Literary Traditions"
in Murder and Mayhem: Crime in the Mare Nostrum (University of Delaware Press),
2008.
"L'episodio della
peste come chiave di una interpretazione morale e politica delle opere di Tucidide,
Manzoni e Camus"
Synapsis Proceedings 2003 (Università di Bologna /Siena), 2004.
"Il sogno nelle similitudini
della Divina Commedia di Dante"
Phoenix (Carla Rossi Academy for Dante Studies in Association with the University
of Connecticut, Storrs), Firenze-Monsummano, Sept. 2003.