Hillary Kelleher

Ph.D. (New York University)
Assistant Professor
325 Asbury Hall
Phone: (765) 658-4686
E-mail: hillarykelleher@depauw.edu

Assistant Professor Hillary Kelleher
Hillary Kelleher is vexed by what Keats called “negative capability,” a need to remain “in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts.”  This penchant forms the heart of her writing and teaching, both of which question how we know what we know.  Kelleher comes to DePauw from NYU, where she completed an interdisciplinary doctorate in English, philosophy and psychology.  She’s writing a book called Unknowing Herbert: The Dark End of The Temple that reconsiders George Herbert’s poetry in light of the via negativa, a mystical path based on divine darkness or transcendence, and she recently published an article on this subject in The George Herbert Journal.  More generally, she likes to think about ways in which language can signal its own limits and to explore rhetorical strategies for “expressing” the inexpressible. 

At DePauw, Kelleher teaches College Writing II, Literature and Interpretation, surveys, and topics courses in Early Modern literature.  She also serves as a mentor for ten Posse Scholars from New York City.

Fall 2009:

• ENG 130h: College Writing II
• ENG 281: British Writers I