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Patricia Kalayjian, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita and Interim Chair
Interdisciplinary Studies
PhD Duke University (English); Dissertation: Her Classic Pen: Critical Politics and the Reputation of Catharine Maria Sedgwick
MA Duke University (English)
BA Pomona College (English)
Contact Information
Office: North Library 4500C
Email: pkalayjian@csudh.edu
Telephone: 310-243-3640
Since I began reading, I have always been drawn to the creative works of women, especially American women prose writers. When in graduate school at Duke University, I learned there were many 19th century women writers in the US, most of whom had been forgotten, largely due to gender politics. Literature was considered to be a masculine pursuit, and women who wrote had popularity and influence during their lifetimes, but not beyond. It became my research passion to try to reconstruct American literary history to include women writers who had been marginalized by critics and academics consolidating the "canon" around white, male authors.
Catharine Sedgwick (1789-1867) is often cited as both the first and the most influential among the dozens of women who published during this era. With the intention to encourage more in depth study of Sedgwick's large body of work, my co-editors and I are producing a born-digital collection of her letters that is freely available to scholars around the world. See the link below to read some of her fascinating letters!
Current Projects
National Endowment for the Humanities Scholarly Editions and Translations Grant for The Letters of American Author, Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1867). Two awards, 2020-2023; 2024-2025.
Founding Editor of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission-Mellon-funded Primary Source Cooperative at the Massachusetts Historical Society. See https://www.primarysourcecoop.org/cms/
Podcast Interview on Your Most Obedient and Humble Servant, episode 52 See https://www.r2studios.org/show/your-most-obedient-humble-servant/episode-52-screaming-among-her-fellows/