Hey There! Nice to meet you! My name is Dr. Emma Probst. I recently completed my PhD in nineteenth-century American Literature at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. My dissertation focused on how nineteenth-century authors used biblical references to fight against racial injustice and imagine a more unified nation. I love finding new insights in literature, and I also enjoy connecting well-known works to other texts or to lesser-known archival materials. Some of my most inspirational moments have happened while I was in college. I discovered my passion, and I have followed it throughout my M.A. degree and my PhD. I hope someday to be an English professor so that I can help students to find inspiration in the written word, develop their ability to write strong arguments and learn to approach the media they consume with a discerning eye.
In addition to being a scholar and aspiring teacher, I am also a strong Christian. I believe my faith gives me a unique perspective on the media around me and helps to drive my academic research as well. I think many people like to place matters of faith at odds with matters of academic knowledge, but this does not have to be the case. The Bible urges us to love the Lord with our whole mind, and I believe that this means that we can and should analyze the literature and media for the deeper messages we can glean from it instead of taking things at face value. In some cases, my devotional time has given me ideas for my academic research, and my academic research has informed the insights I gathered from scripture. I believe that my faith and my scholarly pursuits are intimately connected.
My favorite book of all time is Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. I love the way that Melville brings together humor and philosophical insight. Even weaving a mat leads to musing on the nature of free will and determinism. Melville does this throughout his novels, and this is one of the things that makes him my favorite author. I have read many other books for my classes and research that I am excited to talk about. While I can easily name my favorite book, I have a much harder time narrowing down the type of books that I enjoy. I would say that I am generally drawn to the classics, especially books written in the nineteenth century, because writers were often deliberate about bringing their biblical and secular influences into the works that they were writing, and they often dabbled in Gothic themes and questions of epistemology. I am eager to find more books that I love as I continue reading, and I am happy that my research gives me an opportunity to explore. I enjoy many movies, including the Lord of the Rings films and many Pixar and Disney films as well. I also enjoy watching TV shows while I work on my research, which means that I love to watch The Simpsons, other comedy shows, and many crime procedurals like Bones, Castle, Criminal Minds, and CSI. I am excited to spend more time exploring these works and sharing some of the things that I love about them as well!
Over the past few years, I have grown progressively more fond of video essays on YouTube. The videos I watch often offer a fresh take on movies and shows that I love and showcase the way that a story can facilitate so many possible interpretations and insights. I realized while watching these videos that I also have insights about the things that I read and watch and that I want to share these with people. While I have some rudimentary videography skills, I thought it would be better for me to focus on my writing skills by writing some fun insights to exercise my mind while I work on scholarly writing projects. While I expect to explore many ideas during the time I work on this blog, in general, I am drawn to issues of intertextuality, truth, and the way the individual mind responds to media.
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