The Department of Modern Languages is delighted to announce that Ann Kinzer has completed her PhD, titled ‘Wandering. On the Development of a Literacy Motif in European Literature during the Long 19th Century’.
Ann’s thesis uses a comparative methodology to examine the development of the wanderer motif in German, English, and French literature during the long 19th century. It explores how the practice of wandering, which she defines in Kantian terms as a kind of ‘purposiveness without purpose’, arose in response to the Industrial Revolution as writers and thinkers sought ways to resist the instrumentalization of time, speed and space.
Throughout her studies, Ann’s work has received widespread recognition both within academia (GTA Award; Postgraduate Reseach Prize 2019; Richard Wordsworth Bursary 2018) as well as outside academia. The 2017 Postgraduate Experience Award allowed Ann to bring her research to the wider public and she contributed to a museum exhibition in 2018.
Ann is staying at Kent as REF Impact Officer and is hoping to publish her PhD in due course.
Congratulations to Ann on her achievement.
