Margaret Escher

Margaret Escher (Peggy) is a Lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York (CUNY). She holds a B.A. from St. John's College (Annapolis) and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University. Her research focuses on tricksters, agency, gender, and spatial/temporal representation in Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern literature, with emphasis on Italy, France, England, and the Classical World.

She teaches courses such as 'The Literature of Crime and Punishment,' 'Topics in Early Modern Literature: The Art of the Swindle,' and designed 'Conscience and Risk' for the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, exploring ethics and technological complexity. Currently, she is writing a book titled *Agency, Inconsistency and the Art of the Swindle in the French and Italian Novella*, based on her 2007 dissertation on trickery in works like Boccaccio's *Decameron* and Shakespeare's *Othello*.

She plans to participate in the 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo. Her publications appear under both 'Peggy Escher' and 'Margaret Escher.'