Overview
Savannah is a doctoral candidate in Duke’s English department. Her dissertation is concerned with mid-century women writers and their depictions of pregnancy, abortion, and motherhood. Looking at both poetry and novels of the 1950s-1970s, the aim is to track changes in women’s situation over time. Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex provides an important philosophical framework. Other key writers include Margaret Drabble, Adrienne Rich, Penelope Mortimer, and Sylvia Plath. Her research also focuses on Ordinary Language Philosophy and its uses in literary criticism.
Savannah holds a BA in English from Mount Holyoke College, and an MA in Philosophy from UW-Milwaukee. In addition to her critical work, she writes creative non-fiction and poetry.