Devoney Looser

{{Short description|American literary and Jane Austen scholar}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Devoney Looser | honorific_suffix = | image = Devoney Looser 2019 (cropped).jpeg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Looser speaking at ASU's 2019 graduation | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|4|11}} | birth_place = Saint Paul, Minnesota, US | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = | occupation = University Professor | period = | known_for = | home_town = | title = | boards =  | spouse = George Justice | partner = | children = 2 | parents = | relatives = | awards = Guggenheim Fellowship | website = {{URL|devoneylooser.com}} | education = BA, 1989, Augsburg College <br /> PhD, 1993, Stony Brook University | alma_mater =  | thesis_title = Rethinking women/history/literature: a feminist investigation of disciplinarity in Lucy Hutchinson, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Charlotte Lennox, and Jane Austen | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1993 | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = English literature | sub_discipline = Jane Austen | workplaces =Louisiana State University <br /> University of Missouri <br /> Arizona State University | doctoral_students =  | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Devoney Kay Looser''' (born April 11, 1967) is an American literary critic and Jane Austen scholar. She is Regents Professor of English at Arizona State University, where she focuses on women's writing and the history of the novel.

==Early life and education== Looser was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 11, 1967,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1000152892/BIC?u=learn&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=09e27208 |title=Devoney Kay Looser |date=February 9, 2004 |work=Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors |publisher=Gale |via=Gale In Context: Biography |access-date=June 15, 2021}}</ref> and raised in White Bear Lake, Minnesota,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weirick |first1=John |title=No Plain Jane |url=https://www.augsburg.edu/now/2018/11/19/no-plain-jane/ |website=augsburg.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=November 19, 2018}}</ref> where her mother first introduced her to Jane Austen's work.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jane Austen on Wheels |url=https://www.augsburg.edu/alumni/2015/04/06/jane-austen-on-wheels/ |website=augsburg.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=April 6, 2015}}</ref> Looser attended and graduated from Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, Minnesota in 1985.<ref>{{cite web |title=I am a Pioneer |url=https://www.hill-murray.org/alumni/i-am-a-pioneer |website=hill-murray.org |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108191914/https://www.hill-murray.org/alumni/i-am-a-pioneer |archive-date=November 8, 2019}}</ref>

As a first-generation college student, Looser received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Augsburg College in 1989 and later earned her doctorate in English with a certification in women's studies from Stony Brook University.<ref name = "Stoneman">{{cite web |last1=Stoneman |first1=Amanda |title=ASU English professor fosters deep thinkers and problem solvers |url=https://english.asu.edu/news-events/news/asu-english-professor-fosters-deep-thinkers-and-problem-solvers |website=english.asu.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=May 12, 2017}}</ref>

==Career== After teaching at Indiana State University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Louisiana State University, and the University of Missouri, Looser accepted a faculty appointment at Arizona State University in 2013.<ref name = "Stoneman"/>

In 2018, Looser was appointed a Foundation Professor of English for her outstanding faculty accomplishments.<ref>{{cite web |last1=LaRue-Sandler |first1=Kristen |title=ASU English department's Devoney Looser named Foundation Professor |url=https://english.asu.edu/news-events/news/asu-english-departments-devoney-looser-named-foundation-professor |website=english.asu.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=August 31, 2018}}</ref> In 2020, she was named a Regents Professor, the highest faculty honor awarded at Arizona State University.<ref>{{cite web |title=4 Top ASU Scholars named Regents Professors |access-date=November 30, 2021 |date=November 16, 2020|url=https://news.asu.edu/20201116-arizona-impact-asu-names-4-top-scholars-regents-professor-title}}</ref>

She has played roller derby as Stone Cold Jane Austen.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cornelius |first1=Keridwen |title=Spotlight: Devoney Looser |website=www.phoenixmag.com |access-date=November 30, 2021 |date=November 1, 2017|url=https://www.phoenixmag.com/2017/11/01/devoney-looser/}}</ref>

==Books and essays==

Looser is the author or editor of twelve books, most recently ''Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane,'' published by St. Martin's Press (2025). It considers Austen's writings, life, and reputation and "traces the fascinating and fantastical journey her legacy has taken over the past 250 years."<ref>{{cite web |title=Wild for Austen |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250361332/wildforausten/ |website=Macmillan Publishing|access-date=October 2, 2025 |date=September 2, 2025}}</ref>

Her book ''Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës'' (2022) is the first full-length biography of Jane and Anna Maria Porter, innovators of bestselling historical fiction before Sir Walter Scott.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Porter sisters' 'genius' bestsellers are back in the spotlight |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=October 26, 2022 |date=October 25, 2022|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/10/25/porter-ister-novelists-devoney-looser-review/}}</ref>

Looser is also the author of ''The Making of Jane Austen,'' which focused on how Austen's popular influencers shaped her reputation, including as "a transnational figure used in support of women's suffrage."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Darcy |first1=Jane |title=Devoney Looser. The Making of Jane Austen. |journal=The Review of English Studies |date=2018 |volume=69 |issue=289 |pages=389–391 |doi=10.1093/res/hgx099 |url=https://academic.oup.com/res/article-abstract/69/289/389/4102135?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=February 12, 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''Publishers Weekly'' named ''The Making of Jane Austen'' a Best Summer Book (Non-Fiction).<ref>{{cite web |title=PW Best Summer Books 2017 |access-date=November 30, 2021 |url=https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/summer-reads-2017/nonfiction#book/book-6}}</ref>

Her first book was ''British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670–1820'', which examined British women writers and their contributions to historiography.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kasmer |first1=Lisa |title=Review of British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670–1820 |journal=The English Historical Review |date=2006 |issue=491 |pages=616 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cel073 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article-abstract/CXXI/491/616/389027 |access-date=February 12, 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She followed this up with ''Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750–1850'' in 2008.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=Patricia |title=Review of Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750–1850 |journal=Nineteenth-Century Literature |date=2009 |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=400–402, 435–436 |doi=10.1525/ncl.2009.64.3.400 |id={{ProQuest|211937903}} }}</ref>

Looser's essays and op-eds have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Atlantic'', ''Salon'', ''Slate'', and ''The TLS''. In 2019, Looser brought back into view a forgotten fictional pen portrait of Austen published in an 1823 issue of ''The Lady's Magazine''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Britt |title=A new way of picturing Jane Austen |url=https://english.asu.edu/news-events/news/new-way-picturing-jane-austen |website=english.asu.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=January 13, 2020}}</ref>

She has made several discoveries about the Austen family's public anti-slavery activism. In 2021, she published previously unknown facts about its complicated relationship to slavery and anti-slavery, which revealed that Jane Austen's brother, Henry Thomas Austen, had been a delegate to the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Looser |first1=Devoney |title=Breaking the silence: Exploring the Austen family's complex entanglements with slavery |url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/jane-austen-family-slavery-essay-devoney-looser/ |website=www.the-tls.co.uk |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=May 21, 2021}}</ref> Her 2022 essay on Jane Austen's naval brother Charles Austen was the first to describe his complicated history of policing the slave trade in the 1820s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Looser |first1=Devoney |title=Heroics All at Sea: Jane Austen's brother and 'Crushing' the Slave Trade|url=https://www.the-tls.com/history/modern-history/jane-austen-brother-slave-trad-essay-devoney-looser/ |website=The Times Literary Supplement | access-date=October 2, 2025 |date=July 8, 2022}}</ref> In 2024, Looser published an essay on Jane Austen's other naval brother, Francis Austen, and his previously unknown leadership role in advocating for an 1826 local parliamentary petition, calling for an end the institution of slavery in the British colonies.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Looser |first1=Devoney |title=3 of Jane Austen's 6 brothers engaged in antislavery activism − new research offers more clues about her own views |url=https://theconversation.com/3-of-jane-austens-6-brothers-engaged-in-antislavery-activism-new-research-offers-more-clues-about-her-own-views-230176| website=The Conversation | access-date=October 2, 2025 |date=August 14, 2024}}</ref> [[File:Whit-stillman-matsunaga-2017-2523 (33744217735).jpg|thumb|right|Looser with Kevin Sandler and Whit Stillman after a screening of his 1990 film ''Metropolitan''.]]

Looser has done lectures on Jane Austen for ''The Great Courses.'' <ref>{{cite web|title=The Life and Works of Jane Austen, ''The Great Courses'' |access-date=November 30, 2021 |url=http://www.thegreatcourses.com/janeausten}}</ref>

== Recognition == In 2018, Looser was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar award to research the sisters Jane and Anna Maria Porter.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Greguska |first1=Emma |title=ASU English prof to plumb lives of literary sisters with Guggenheim Fellowship |url=https://english.asu.edu/news-events/news/asu-english-prof-plumb-lives-literary-sisters-guggenheim-fellowship |website=english.asu.edu |access-date=February 12, 2020 |date=April 17, 2018}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book |author=Looser, Devoney |year=2022 |title= Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës |publisher=Bloomsbury US |location=New York |url=https://sisternovelists.com}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=2021 |title=The Life and Works of Jane Austen |publisher=Great Courses |location=Chantilly, VA |url=http://www.thegreatcourses.com/janeausten}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=2019 |title=The Daily Jane Austen: A Year of Quotes |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo42348902.html}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=2019 |title=Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1811) |publisher=Penguin Random House |location=New York |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/286397/sense-and-sensibility-by-jane-austen-edited-with-an-introduction-by-devoney-looser/}} * {{cite book |author=West, Jane |year=2015 |title=A Gossip's Story, and A Legendary Tale (1796) |editor=Devoney Looser |editor2=Melinda O'Connell |editor3=Caitlin Kelly|publisher=Valancourt Books |location=Charlottesville, VA |url=https://www.valancourtbooks.com/a-gossips-story-1796.html |isbn=9781943910151}}* {{cite book |author=Looser, Devoney |year=2017 |title=The Making of Jane Austen |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |doi=10.1353/book.51997 |isbn=9781421422824 |url=https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/making-jane-austen}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=2015 |title=Cambridge Companion to Women's Writing in the Romantic Period |series=Cambridge Companions to Literature |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/CCO9781139061315 |isbn=9781139061315 |s2cid=150938469 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-womens-writing-in-the-romantic-period/A6A5DCB58EEA02E2B15376E2E5865C78#fndtn-information}} * {{cite book |author=Looser, Devoney |year=2008 |title= Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750–1850 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |doi=10.1353/book.3466 |isbn=9780801887055 |url=https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/women-writers-and-old-age-great-britain-1750%E2%80%931850}} * {{cite book |author=Looser, Devoney |year=2001 |title= British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670–1820 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |doi=10.56021/9780801864483 |isbn=9780801876400 |url=https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/british-women-writers-and-writing-history-1670-1820}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=1997|title=Generations: Academic Feminists in Dialogue|publisher=University of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/generations}} * {{cite book |editor=Looser, Devoney |year=1995 |title=Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |url=https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780312123673}}

==External links== {{commons category}} * {{Google Scholar id|lyOUPOQAAAAJ}} * [https://isearch.asu.edu/profile/284225/cv CV] * [https://www.devoney.com Personal website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110202135419/http://devoney.com/ |date=2011-02-02 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Looser, Devoney}} Category:American literary critics Category:American women literary critics Category:Living people Category:Jane Austen scholars Category:People from White Bear Lake, Minnesota Category:Arizona State University faculty Category:Louisiana State University faculty Category:University of Missouri faculty Category:Stony Brook University alumni Category:Augsburg University alumni Category:1967 births Category:American women academics Category:20th-century American biographers Category:American women biographers

Devoney Looser

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