faculty

Michael Du Plessis


Associate Professor (teaching) of Comparative Literature and English

Contact Information
Office: THH 161
Phone: (213) 740-0102
E-mail: duplessi@usc.edu

 

Education

  • Ph.D. Comparative Literature, University of Southern California, 1/1993

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. "Final Programmes: Robert Fuest, Michael Moorcock, Pop Art, and Science Fiction." In _British Science Fiction Film and Television_. James Leggott and Thomas Hochscherf, eds. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Press [forthcoming].
  • 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. (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.

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 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
  • 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