Jennifer N. Brown

Title

Professor of English and World Literatures
Chair, Humanities & Social Sciences
Chair, Writing Literature & Language

Department

Writing, Literature, and Language

Email

jbrown1@mmm.edu

Phone

646-393-4120

About

Jennifer N. Brown has teaching and research interests in Medieval and Early Modern Literature.

Degree(s)

B.A., Georgetown University
M.A., Georgetown University
Ph.D., The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Recent Work

BOOKS

Manuscript Culture and Medieval Devotional Traditions: Essays in Honour of Michael G. Sargent Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Nicole R. Rice (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2021).

Fruit of the Orchard: Catherine of Siena in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (University of Toronto Press, 2018)

Sexuality, Sociality and Cosmology in Medieval Texts Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Marla Segol. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Barking Abbey and Medieval Literary Culture: Authorship and Authority in a Female Community Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Donna Bussell. (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2012).

Three Women of Liège: A Critical Edition of and Commentary on the Middle English Lives of Elizabeth of Spalbeek, Christina Mirabilis, and Marie d’Oignies, Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts Volume 23, (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2008).

ARTICLES IN JOURNALS AND EDITED COLLECTIONS

“Age and Sexuality in Medieval Europe.” in Sexuality in the Medieval West, ed. Michelle Sauer, (ARC Humanities Press, forthcoming)

“Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden and the Hundred Years War.” in The Hundred Years War and European Literary History, ed. Ryan Perry and Daniel Davies, (Manchester University Press, Forthcoming).

“Female Friendship and Visionary Women” in Women’s Friendship in Medieval Literature. eds. Karma Lochrie and Usha Vishnuvajjala. (Ohio State University Press, 2022)

“The Material of Vernacular English Devotion: Temptation and Sweetness in Ancrene Wisse and Richard Rolle’s Form of Living,” Early Middle English (3) 2021. 123-130.

“Michael Sargent: An Appreciation,” with Nicole Rice in Manuscript Culture and Medieval Devotional Traditions: Essays in Honour of Michael G. Sargent Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Nicole R. Rice (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2021). xv-xxv.

“The Body of the Nun and the Syon ‘Additions’,” Manuscript Culture and Medieval Devotional Traditions: Essays in Honour of Michael G. Sargent Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Nicole R. Rice (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2021). 290-309.

“The Many Misattributions of Catherine of Siena: Beyond The Orchard in England.” The Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures. (41) 2015. 67-84.

“From the Charterhouse to the Printing House: Catherine of Siena in Medieval England” Ed. Nicole Rice.  Middle English Religious Writing in Practice: Texts, Readers, and Transformations (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2013). 17-47.

“Introduction.” Co-written with Marla Segol. Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Marla Segol. Sexuality, Sociality and Cosmology in Medieval Texts (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 1-6.

“Cosmology and Sexuality in Robert Henryson’s Orpheus and Eurydice in Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Marla Segol. Sexuality, Sociality and Cosmology in Medieval Texts (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). 145-158.

“Introduction.” Co-written with Donna Bussell. Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Donna Bussell. Barking Abbey and Medieval Literary Culture: Authorship and Authority in a Female Community (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2012). 1-32.

“Body, Gender, and Nation in the Nun of Barking’s Vie of Edward the Confessor.” Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Donna Bussell. Barking Abbey and Medieval Literary Culture: Authorship and Authority in a Female Community (York: University of York Medieval Press, 2012). 145-163.

“Marie of Oignies.” Eds. Liz Herbert McAvoy and Diane Watt. The History of British Women’s Writing 1350-1500. Volume I (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). 198-206.

“Gender, Confession, and Authority: MS Douce 114 in the Fifteenth Century.” Eds. Vincent Gillespie and Kantik Ghosh. After Arundel: Religious Writing in 15th Century England (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2011). 415-428.

“Subject, Object, and Mantra in the Wohunge of Ure Lauerd” Ed., Susannah Chewning. The Milieu and Context of the Wooing Group (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2010).  66-83.

“The Chaste Erotics of Marie d’Oignes and Jacques de Vitry” Journal of the History of Sexuality (19) 1 2010. 74-93.  *Recipient of the 2011 “Best Article Prize” by the Society for Feminist Medieval Scholarship*

“‘Cut From Its Stump:’ Translating Edward the Confessor and the Dream of the Green Tree” Eds. Denis Renevey and Christiania Whitehead.  The Medieval Translator Volume XII (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2009). 57-70.

“The Vitae of Edward the Confessor and the Bayeux Tapestry.” Peregrinations: The Journal of the International Society for the Study of Pilgrimage Art (II.4) 2009. 166-82.

“Translating Edward the Confessor: Feminism, Time and Hagiography.”  Medieval Feminist Forum (43) 2007.  46-57.

“Elizabeth of Spalbeek’s Body: Performatio Christi.”  Magistra.  (11) 2005.  70-88.

“Julian of Norwich: The Rule of St. Benedict and Envisioning Jesus.” Magistra: A Journal of Women’s Spirituality in History (8) 2002. 62-76.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL WORKS

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 91) 2010. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2012. 228-34; 269-72.

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 90) 2009. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011. 212-23; 254-25.

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 89) 2008.  Oxford: Oxford University Press 2010.  236-46; 273-75.

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 88) 2007 Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009. 221-30; 261-63.

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 87) 2006 Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008. 232-42; 263-68.

“Medieval Women’s Writing” and “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 86) 2005.  Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007. 208-78.

 “Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 85) 2004. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.  61-66.

“Middle Scots Poetry” Year’s Work in English Studies (Volume 84) 2003.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.  210-12.

REFERENCE/PEDAGOGICAL WORKS

“In Defense of Disciplinarity: A Case From the Trenches.” Postmedieval Forum: Forum IV Pedagogy October 2013.

“John Barbour;” “William Dunbar;” “Robert Henryson;” “Cleanness;” “Pearl.” Facts on File Companion to Pre-1600 British Poetry, ed. Michelle Sauer. New York: Facts on File Books, 2008. 73. 152-3. 215-6. 119-20. 312-5.

“Introduction to Medieval Literature,” “Beowulf,”, “Chretien de Troyes,” “The Thousand and One Nights,” “Cluster: Medieval Women,” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature Eighth Edition: A Guide for Instructors New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.  119-21. 126-9. 139-43. 184-7. 190-201.

REVIEWS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Review of The Virgin Mary’s Book at the Annunciation: Reading, Interpretation, and Devotion in Medieval England by Laura Saetveit Miles The Medieval Review 2021

Review of Participatory Reading in Late Medieval England by Heather Blatt The Medieval Review 2019.

Review of Clare of Assisi and the Thirteenth-Century Church: Religious Women, Rules, and Resistance by Catherine Mooney The Medieval Review 2018.

Review of Anglo-Saxon Saints’ Lives as History Writing in Late Medieval England, by Cynthia Turner Camp. Journal of Germanic and English Philology (117) 2018. 135-36.

Review of The Embodied Word: Female Spiritualities, Contested Orthodoxies, and English Religious Cultures, 1350-1700, by Nancy Bradley Warren. The Review of English Studies. (63) 2012. 668-70.

Review of Virgins and Scholars: A Fifteenth-Century Compilation of the Lives of John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, Jerome, and Katherine of Alexandria, by Claire M. Waters. Speculum (85) 2010. 479-81.

Review of Thomas of Cantimpré: The Collected Saints’ Lives, Abbot John of Cantimpré, Christina the Astonishing, Margaret of Ypres, and Lutgard of Aywières, by Barbara Newman. The Medieval Review 2009.

Review of Women Readers in the Middle Ages, by D.H. Green. Journal of British Studies (48) 2009. 182-3.

Review of The Texture of Society: Medieval Women in the Southern Low Countries, eds. Ellen E. Kitell and Mary A. Suydam. Medieval Feminist Forum (42) 2006. 156-9.

Review of Women’s Space: Patronage, Place, and Gender in the Medieval Church, eds. Virginia Chieffo Raguin and Sarah Stanbury. Mystics Quarterly (32) 2006. 54-7.

Review of Medieval Virginities, eds. Anke Bernau, Ruth Evans, and Sarah Salih. Medieval Feminist Forum (40) 2005. 143-5.

Assistant Translator (French to English), Faik-Nzuji, Clementine. Tracing Memory: A Glossary of Graphic Signs and Symbols in African Art and Culture (Quebec City: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1996)

WORKS IN PROGRESS

Manuscript Culture and Medieval Devotional Traditions: Essays in Honor of Michael G. Sargent. Eds. Jennifer N. Brown and Nicole Rice (Under contract with University of York Medieval Press, 2019).

“Age and Sexuality in Medieval Europe” (solicited essay for a collection, Sexuality in the Medieval West, Ed. Michelle Sauer, ARC Humanities Press)

“Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden and the Hundred Years War” (solicited essay for a collection,  A Companion to the Hundred Years War)

“The Vocabulary of Devotion”

Teaching

This semester I am teaching English & World Literatures Capstone: The Booker Prize.

Courses I have taught in the past include:

  • Arthurian Literature
  • Chaucer
  • Early Modern Literature
  • History of the English Language
  • Literary Analysis
  • Medieval Literature
  • Milton’s Paradise Lost (Senior Capstone)
  • Shakespeare Seminar
  • Shakespeare Survey
  • Shakespeare and Film
  • Themes in World Literature
  • The Many Lives of King Arthur
  • World Literature and Context
  • Writing in the Liberal Art: Dracula

Professional Experience

2020-present: Chair, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, MMC

2018-2020: Chair, Department of English and World Literatures, MMC

2018-present: Professor, English and World Literatures, MMC

2012-2018: Associate Professor, Department of English and World Literatures, MMC

2009-2012: Assistant Professor, Department of English and World Literatures, Marymount Manhattan College

2008-2009: Visiting Assistant Professor, English Department, Fordham University

2003-2009: Assistant Professor, English Department, University of Hartford [promoted to Associate Professor and tenured in January 2009]

Office Hours

By appointment, in person and virtual.

Location

Carson Hall, Room 202A