Marie Ostby

Marie Ostby’s research focuses on the global circulation of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern literatures, with a specialization in Iran and its diaspora. Other research interests include postcolonial and global studies, genre studies, migration and diaspora, gender studies, life narrative, poetry and poetics, graphic narrative, and digital and social media.

She joined Connecticut College in 2015 and has taught the following courses:

ENG 137: Fictions of Empire
ENG 150: Essentials of Literary Study
ENG 181: The Revolution Will Not be Tweeted: Literary Activism and Social Media
ENG 241: Borderlands: Contemporary Fictions of Migration
ENG 250: Theory and Practice of Literary Study
ENG 314: The Novel and Globalization
ENG 342: Cross-Cultural Poetry
ENG 358C: Postcolonial Literature Today
ENG/GIS 366: Words of War and Peace: Literary Grenades and Olive Branches in the Modern Middle East
ENG/GIS 381: Global Graphic Novels
ENG/HIS 477: Crafting Global Narratives
GIS 102 (2-week section): Introduction to Global Islamic Studies

Her current book project, “The Global Genres of Modern Iran: Flexible Forms and Cross-Cultural Exchange from Travelogues to Twitter,” uses the interwoven modern histories of Persian and Euro-American literature, art, and film to explore how transnational literary exchange under politically fraught circumstances is often mirrored in the crossing of genre boundaries.

She has recently presented at conferences including the Modern Language Association convention, the American Comparative Literature Association’s annual meeting, the Southern Atlantic Modern Language Association conference, and the Association for Iranian Studies conference.

Publications

• “Cargo, Chickpeas, and Cobblestones: The Textures of Memory in Forugh Farrokhzad's Travelogue Dar Diyari Digar.” Forugh Farrokhzad: Poet of Modern Iran: Iconic Woman and Feminine Pioneer of New Persian Poetry, eds. Nasrin Rahimieh and Dominic Brookshaw, IB Tauris (2023)
• “‘There are in Persia many subjects not accessible to female inquiry’: Eurocentric and Cross-Cultural Feminist Nomadism in Lady Mary Sheil's Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (1856).” Feminism as World Literature, ed. Robin Goodman, Bloomsbury Press (2022)
• “Genres Without Borders: Reading Globally between Modern Iran and the West,” Persian Literature as World Literature, eds. Mostafa Abedinifard, Omid Azadibougar, and Amirhossein Vafa, Bloomsbury Press (2021)
• "Cosmopolitanism," New Literary History, special issue dedicated to the work of Kwame Anthony Appiah (2018)
• "Exile is Treading Water in a Strange Sea," Public Books (2018)
• “Graphics and Global Dissent: Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Persian Miniatures, and the Multifaceted Power of Comic Protest,” PMLA (2017)
• Literary Encyclopedia entries for Marjane Satrapi and Shahriar Mandanipour, www.litencyc.com (2017)
• Review Essay on "Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers," Iranian Studies (2015)
• “De-Censoring an Iranian-American ‘Memoir’: Authorship and Synchronicity in Shahriar Mandanipour’s Censoring an Iranian Love Story,” Iranian Studies, special issue on Diaspora (2013)
• Review Essay on "Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran," Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, London, UK (2011)

Majoring in English. 

Visit the English department website. 

Major in Global Islamic Studies.

Visit the GlS website.