Dianne Berg

Dianne Berg serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her academic work focuses on the intersection of literature, history, and social issues, particularly examining how narratives of domestic violence and scandal have been represented across different historical periods.

Dr. Berg's research interests include:

• Medieval English Literature
• Early Modern English Literature
• Representations of Domestic Violence in Literature
• Literary Appropriation of Real-Life Scandals
• Gender Studies in Historical Context
• Treason, Obedience, and State Power in Literature

Dr. Berg has demonstrated how literary representations of domestic violence and murder have maintained consistent narrative patterns from the early days of print to contemporary media. Her recent work analyzes the enduring cultural fascination with stories of wives and mothers who commit violence against family members, examining how these narratives reflect societal anxieties about gender, family, and social order. She has identified parallels between historical cases like the 1551 murder of Thomas Arden by his wife Alice and contemporary cases such as the Kouri Richins and Andrea Yates cases, showing how media framing of domestic violence has changed little despite centuries passing.

Dr. Berg's scholarly publications have appeared in reputable venues including Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation, Out of Sequence: The Sonnets Remixed (Parlour Press), Treason: Medieval and Early Modern Treachery, Betrayal, and Shame (Brill), and Medieval and Early Modern Murder: Legal, Literary, and Historical Contexts (Boydell).

Her teaching portfolio at Clark University includes courses such as "Medieval Women's Voices," "The Arthurian Tradition," "Chaucer's Canterbury Tales," "The Secret Life of Books," and "Pulp Non-Fiction: Representations of Domestic Crime in Early Modern England," demonstrating her commitment to bringing historical literary perspectives to contemporary students.