Patrycja Antoszek

Dr. Patrycja Antoszek serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of American Literature and Culture at the Institute of Literary Studies, Faculty of Humanities, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, where she has advanced research and teaching in American literary studies since 2000.

Her research program critically examines Gothic fiction through Shirley Jackson's works, affect theory, and racial dynamics in contemporary American literature. Specializing in psychological horror and postmodern experimentation, she analyzes how authors like Robert Coover, Toni Morrison, and Philip Roth negotiate trauma, identity, and social anxieties through innovative narrative structures. Her methodological approach integrates psychoanalytic criticism with cultural studies frameworks to reveal intersections of gender, race, and spatial politics in literary texts.

Analysis of her publication trajectory reveals a sustained evolution from postmodern textual studies (2010 monograph on Coover) toward affect-centered Gothic criticism (2016-2023), increasingly engaging with race theory and contemporary African American writers like Jesmyn Ward while maintaining Shirley Jackson as a central focus.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• PROM scholarship (NAWA fund) for Library of Congress research (2019)
• Salzburg Seminar Session on Contemporary American Literature (2003)
• Society of the Friends of the Catholic University of Lublin grant (2002)
• Fulbright American Studies Institute fellowship (2002)

Dr. Antoszek has supervised diploma theses at KUL and contributed significantly to academic service through editorial work for the Polish Journal for American Studies (2009-2015). Her international engagement includes multiple Erasmus+ teaching assignments at Universidad de Murcia (2019), University of Massachusetts Boston (2016), and Universidad de Vigo (2004, 2010), demonstrating sustained cross-border scholarly collaboration. Research funding from NAWA, Fulbright, and Polish academic societies has supported her archival work at institutions including the Library of Congress and Fulbright institutes.