{"id":8924,"date":"2018-11-19T17:18:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T17:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=8924"},"modified":"2018-11-19T21:23:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T21:23:22","slug":"no-plain-jane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2018\/11\/19\/no-plain-jane\/","title":{"rendered":"No Plain Jane"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Give a girl an education, and introduce her properly into the world,\u201d said one of Jane Austen\u2019s characters, \u201cand ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a line published in 1814\u2019s \u201cMansfield Park,\u201d it prophetically resonates in the life and work of Augsburg alumna Devoney Looser \u201989<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Looser earned a doctorate in English and women\u2019s studies, holds extensive credentials as a professor who has served at leading universities, and has written and contributed to dozens of books, scores of academic journals, and even more book reviews. When national and international publications need an expert on 18th-century literature, British women writers, or Jane Austen, they want Looser\u2014if they can catch her before roller derby practice.<\/p>\n

Finding her voice<\/h2>\n

Looser grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. College seemed like a distant dream, both because of the financial barrier and the fact that she came from a family with no college degree in sight. Her perspective changed when she applied to Augsburg and earned a President\u2019s Scholarship for her academic merit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat made all the difference in terms of my ability to go to college. Augsburg gave me an incredibly generous opportunity with that scholarship,\u201d Looser said.<\/p>\n

Looser wasn\u2019t outwardly confident, but she caught the eye of Cathie Nicholl<\/strong>, an English professor who taught at Augsburg for nearly 30 years until her retirement in 1999. Though Looser was somewhat quiet, Nicholl said, \u201cher written work was always wonderful. She\u2019s really blossomed a lot since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looser first became enthralled with Jane Austen\u2019s writings through a literature class with Nicholl, who has maintained correspondence with Looser through several decades. \u201cI had no idea at the time how significant, how important [that connection with Nicholl] would turn out to be to my life\u2014to a path toward a future in [literary] work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Douglas Green<\/strong><\/a>, a professor of English who\u2019s taught at Augsburg since 1988, met Looser when he first arrived at the university. \u201cShe was exceptional. We had a real conversation about literature,\u201d said Green, a poet and scholar who teaches Shakespeare, drama, and writing as well as gender, sexuality, and women’s studies.<\/p>\n

\n

Did Austen predict roller derby?<\/h2>\n

“I hate\u00a0to hear you talking so, like a fine gentleman, and as if women were all fine ladies, instead of rational creatures. We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.” \u2014 Mrs. Croft, Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” (1818)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though literature was central in feeding Looser\u2019s ravenous appetite for knowledge, people and experiences also offered lessons beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were lots of things at Augsburg that brought me out of my shell,\u201d Looser said. \u201cI was very shy at 18, and to see the same faces who could tell me, \u2018You can do this,\u2019 made a big difference in my believing in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a suburbanite, moving to the heart of Minneapolis was an education in itself. \u201cBeing in an urban area, being able to live among other students was amazing,\u201d Looser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugsburg\u2019s student body was very diverse. Being in class alongside students from all over the world was mind-blowing. It made me reimagine my role in the world, and what my world could be, and how I was part of their world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging with a variety of people and ideas has served Looser well in her literary pursuits and academic experience alike. She has held positions teaching English and\u00a0women\u2019s studies at institutions including the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, University of Wisconsin\u2014Whitewater, Indiana State University, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is described as a thoughtful and wise mentor who empathizes with first-generation college students. Her ability to reflect on and relate to the challenges others face is something Looser shares with the central figure of her academic work: Jane Austen.<\/p>\n

\"Devoney<\/h2>\n

Literary sense and moral sensibility<\/h2>\n

\u201cAusten is one of the most psychologically perceptive observers in all of the history of the novel,\u201d said Jenny Davidson, a novelist and professor of English at Columbia University who connected with Looser over their shared professional interest in 18th-century literature.<\/p>\n

Known for romantic plots steeped in English society, including \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d and \u201cSense and Sensibility,\u201d Austen\u2019s writings have been in print continuously for nearly 200 years and retain an unassailable foothold in contemporary art and culture. Who was Jane Austen, really\u2014and how did she become what she represents now?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the focus of Looser\u2019s latest book, \u201cThe Making of Jane Austen,\u201d which earned high praise among literary peers. It was named a Publishers Weekly Best Summer Book for nonfiction, featured in CNN interviews, and reviewed in The Economist, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Looser\u2019s remarkable scholarship has led to an abundance of prestigious opportunities, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in support of one of\u00a0her current projects: a book about unheralded British sister novelists Jane and Anna Maria Porter.<\/p>\n

Davidson offered a scholar\u2019s perspective: \u201cThe project on the Porter sisters is a genuine project of reclamation, of rewriting an injustice of literary history: these were two extremely widely read and well-regarded novelists whom literary history has essentially dumped in the trash.\u201d Because of Looser\u2019s background, Davidson believes, the first-generation college graduate is attracted to the works of underdogs and can convey their stories empathetically and authoritatively.<\/p>\n

Track tenure<\/h2>\n

Perhaps her affinity for the underdog is part of what drew Looser to a lesser-known sport\u2014roller derby.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade ago, Looser and her friend Katie Carr, a special collections librarian at the University of Missouri where Looser was a professor of English, reconnected over a mutual sense that they needed a change. Angela Rehbein, one of Looser\u2019s then-graduate students who is now a professor of English at West Liberty University, joined them to skate at a roller rink\u2019s retro night, where members of a local roller derby team invited the three to derby practice. It sounded fun, so they accepted.<\/p>\n

Roller derby is a sport in which two teams of five players in roller skates line up on a track. The \u201cjammer\u201d on each team tries to maneuver past the \u201cblockers\u201d on the opposing team, and it all happens in a series of two-minute increments called \u201cjams.\u201d Players force opponents off the track or block them with their shoulders, chests, and hips. Because it\u2019s full-contact, they wear helmets, mouthguards, knee pads, and elbow pads.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s customary for derby players to create personas based on names that use a play on words. Carr dubbed Looser \u201cStone Cold Jane Austen,\u201d a mashup of Looser\u2019s literary expertise and professional wrestler Steve Austin\u2019s stage name.<\/p>\n

Looser is now a faculty advisor to the roller derby team in addition to her work as a professor of English at Arizona State University. She still remembers the coaches who patiently taught her to play derby, which perhaps unexpectedly refreshed her perspective on higher education. \u201cIt\u2019s humbling to start out as a complete newbie, and being laid flat and embarrassing myself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt put me in headspace that made me realize how students must feel their first year of college, when you didn\u2019t know what you were doing, and it was terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

People who know Looser best\u2014like Carr, Rehbein, and her former doctoral student Emily Friedman\u2014point to Looser\u2019s knack for transforming her interests into excellence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this world-renowned academic and also someone who plays roller derby and excels at it. She is an incredibly generous friend and an amazing wife and mother,\u201d Carr said, referring to Looser\u2019s sons and husband George Justice, a fellow Austen scholar and British literature professor at Arizona State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot from Devoney\u2019s incredible work ethic and her generosity toward her students and toward other scholars,\u201d added Rehbein, who appreciates Looser\u2019s influence both in and beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n

The same is true for Friedman, who has also worked on Austen scholarship and now serves as a professor of English at Auburn University. Friedman observed Looser\u2019s simultaneous commitment to hard work and a rewarding life outside of it, and how \u201cshe keeps them dancing rather than in conflict and fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Jane Austen and many icons before her, Looser will maneuver past any limitations in her path.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the hardest worker I know,\u201d said Friedman. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to skate in her tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Devoney<\/h2>\n

Looser’s next book topic: Roller Derby<\/h2>\n

“Roller derby got its start in the United States in 1935. It included male and female athletes of many ages. It was multiracial: it was gay-lesbian inclusive. We’re so quick in American culture to talk about baseball, basketball, football. I think roller derby has had a similar kind of impact.” \u2014 Devoney Looser<\/p>\n

The first time Looser played roller derby:<\/strong> ” I was worried that I was too old,” Looser remembered. ” It was terrifying: What am I even doing here, doing something where I could get my teeth knocked out?”<\/p>\n

\n

Photos by Deanna Dent, Arizona State University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Give a girl an education, and introduce her properly into the world,\u201d said one of Jane Austen\u2019s characters, \u201cand ten to one but she has the means of settling well, without further expense to anybody.\u201d For a line published in 1814\u2019s \u201cMansfield Park,\u201d it prophetically resonates in the life and work of Augsburg alumna Devoney <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":9276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[86],"class_list":["post-8924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-winter-2018"],"wps_subtitle":"How a quiet, first-generation college graduate became a leading literary scholar, Austen expert, and roller derby devotee","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8924"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9313,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8924\/revisions\/9313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}