Overview
Kaylin O'Dell is a postdoctoral lecturer in English at Cornell University. She primarily works on early medieval literature, with a focus on reading, performance, and affect in Old English poetry and prose. Her dissertation, The Mind On Stage: Crafting the Self in Anglo-Saxon England, examines how early medieval readers brought the concept of public performance into the private sphere as they read. An excerpt from this project entitled "Dramatizing Devotion in the Old English Vercelli Homily IV" is forthcoming in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology. Kaylin's work on performance and reading practice continues into both the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Her teaching interests include: medieval and early modern literature; performance studies; theories of the monstrous; manuscript studies; and digital humanities.
Research Focus
- Old and Middle English literature
- Early Modern literature
- Old and Middle French literature
- The history of reading
- Drama and performance studies
- Digital humanities