معرفی
Margaret Thickstun is the Jane D. and Ellis E. Bradford ’45 Distinguished Writing Chair at Hamilton College, holding a full professorship in Literature and Creative Writing. Her expertise spans religious literature, the history of the book, and early modern women’s writing, with a focus on transitions from manuscript to print culture. She teaches courses on 17th-century literature, Milton, and the role of women in early modern literary production.
Thickstun earned her Ph.D. from Cornell University, following M.A. and B.A. degrees from Cornell and Mount Holyoke College. Her research explores intersections between Puritan doctrine, literary representation, and gender, highlighted in works like Fictions of the Feminine: Puritan Doctrine and the Representation of Women and Milton’s Paradise Lost: Moral Education.
Her scholarship emphasizes marginalized voices, such as Puritan women’s spirituality and Quaker feminist critiques of Pauline theology. Recent articles address Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and Anne Bradstreet’s literary legacy. Thickstun has served extensively at Hamilton, including College Marshal since 2008 and leadership roles in academic committees like the Bicentennial Subcommittee and Writing Advisory Committee.
Key professional affiliations include the Milton Society and Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. Her work bridges literary analysis with historical context, particularly examining how material aspects of books (e.g., physical form, canonization) shape cultural narratives.
