AUDREY BILGER

AUDREY BILGER
Department of Literature
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California 91711
909-607-2765
e-mail: abilger@mckenna.edu
EDUCATION: Ph.D., English, University of Virginia, 1992
M.A., English, University of Virginia, 1986
B.A., Philosophy, Oklahoma State University, 1981
TEACHING
POSITIONS:
Associate Professor, Department of Literature, Claremont McKenna
College, 1998-
Assistant Professor, Department of Literature,
Claremont McKenna College, 1994-1998
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of English,
Oberlin College, 1992-1994
Graduate Instructor, Department of English, University of
Virginia, 1987-1991
Graduate Instructor, Department of Philosophy, Oklahoma State
University, 1982
PUBLICATIONS:
Editor, The Art of Ingeniously Tormenting (1753). Jane Collier.
Broadview Literary Texts. Toronto: Broadview Press. Work in
progress.
Entries on Jane Barker, Frances Burney, and Maria Edgeworth for
Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Women Authors: A Biographical
Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Janet S. Wolf. Greenwood Press.
Forthcoming.
Laughing Feminism: Subversive Comedy in Frances Burney, Maria
Edgeworth, and Jane Austen. Detroit: Wayne State University
Press, 1998.
Interview with Jeanette Winterson. The Paris Review 145 (1997-
98): pp. 68-112.
Review of Women Travel Writers and the Language of Aesthetics
1716-1818, Elizabeth A. Bohls, Cambridge UP (1995). Women's
Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 26 (1997): pp. 535-538.
"Only Connect." Review of Jeanette Winterson's Gut Symmetries.
Los Angeles Times Book Review, 13 April 1997.
Solicited response to Harold Bloom's disparagement of women's
humor. Paris Review 139 (1996): pp. 275-281.
Entries on "Antifeminism," "Comedy," and "Postfeminism."
Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. Ed. Elizabeth
Kowaleski-Wallace. Garland, 1997.
"Goblin Laughter: Violent Comedy and the Condition of Women in
Frances Burney and Jane Austen." Women's Studies: An
Interdisciplinary Journal 24 (1995): pp.323-340.

"Mocking the 'Lords of Creation': Comic Male Characters in Frances
Burney, Maria Edgeworth, and Jane Austen." Women's Writing: The
Elizabethan to Victorian Period 1.1 (1994): pp. 77-98.
Review of Essays, Poems, and Simplicity: A Comedy, Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu (Clarendon, 1993). Women's Writing: The
Elizabethan to Victorian Period 1.1 (1994): pp. 119-121.
"'A History Reduc'd into Patches': Patchwork and the Woman
Novelist" (on Jane Barker's A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies).
Quilt Culture: Tracing the Pattern. Eds. Judy Elsley and Cheryl
Torsney. Columbia: University of Missouri Press (1994): pp. 18-
32.
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PUBLIC LECTURES: "Women and Comedy." Borders Books, Montclair. March 13, 1999.
"Laughing Feminism." Claremont Colleges Library Speaker Series.
Feb. 3, 1999.
"Traditions of Feminist Laughter." Pasadena Senior Curriculum
Lecture Series "Understanding the Role of Women in Western
Culture," sponsored by Occidental College, May 16, 1995.
"Feminists Have No Sense of Humor, and Other Myths." Cornell
College, March 16, 1995.
CONFERENCE
PAPERS:
"Dark Laughter: The Comic, the Gothic, and Revolutionary
Feminism." Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century
Studies Conference. Williams College, Williamstown Massachusetts,
September 17-20, 1998.
"'Scholaring' and 'Mastering': Strategic Positioning in the
Courtship of Frances Burney and Alexandre d'Arblay." American
Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Annual Meeting. University
of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, April 1-5, 1998.
"Engaging Laughter" [on teaching 18th-century literature in the
undergraduate classroom]. American Society for Eighteenth-Century
Studies 27th Annual Meeting. Austin, Texas, March 27-31, 1996.
"The Nonsense of Common Sexism: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's
Enlightenment Feminist Satire." Northeast America Society for
Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference. University of Ottawa,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, September 7-10, 1995.
"'The Happy Genius of Nonsense': Comedy and the Woman Writer."
Western Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference.
University of California, Irvine, February 17-19, 1995.
"The Politics of Laughter: Feminist Comic Strategies in
Wollstonecraft's Vindication." Aphra Behn Society Conference.
Huntington Library, San Marino, California, October 7-9, 1994.
"Making Fun of the Angel in the House: Female
Tricksters in Burney, Edgeworth, and Austen." Third Annual
Conference on Women Writers of 18th- and 19th-Century Britain.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, April 15-16, 1994.
"Domesticating the Comic Muse: Women, Gender, and Eighteenth-
Century Theories of Comedy." Modern Language Association
Convention, Toronto, Canada, December 27-30, 1993.
"Nice Girls Don't Laugh: The Invention of the Humorless Female in
Eighteenth-Century England." Aphra Behn Society. Portland,
Maine, September 17-18, 1993.

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"Women's Laughing Matters: Feminist Comedy and the Eighteenth-
Century Novel." Second Annual Conference on Women Writers of
18th- and 19th-Century Britain. University of Washington,
Seattle, May 7-8, 1993.
"'Now You See It, Now You Don't': The Myth of Female Humorlessness
and its Eighteenth-Century Origins." Tenth International Humor
Congress, University of Paris VIII, July 6-9, 1992.
CONFERENCE
PARTICIPATION:
Invited Panel Chair, "Consuming Desires," Conference on Addiction
and Culture. Claremont Graduate School, February 29-March 2,
1996.
Invited Panel Chair, "Aphra Behn," Third Annual
Conference on Women Writers of 18th- and 19th-Century Britain.
Michigan State University, April 15-16, 1994.
Invited Panel Chair, "Radcliffe and the Gothic," Second Annual
Conference on Women Writers of 18th- and 19th-Century Britain,
University of Washington, Seattle, May 7-8, 1993.
ACADEMIC AWARDS: Summer Research Grant, Dean of the Faculty’s office, 1999.
Summer Research Grant, Dean of the Faculty's Office, 1998.
Research Sabbatical, Fall 1997.
Summer Research Grant, Dean of the Faculty's Office, 1997.
Gould Center Faculty Summer Research Grant, 1996.
Summer Research Grant, Dean of the Faculty's Office, 1995.
National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar for
College Teachers, "Eighteenth-Century Satire and Theories of
Satire," Emory University (1993),
Director: John Sitter.
Zora Neale Hurston Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper on Women
or Gender, University of Virginia Women's Studies Program [for
dissertation] (1991-92).
Doctoral Fellowship, University of Virginia Women's
Center (1991-92).
English Department Dissertation Fellowship,
University of Virginia (1990-91).
ACADEMIC SERVICE: Dean of the Faculty Search Committee (1999-2000).
Administration Committee (1999-2001).
Athenaeum Advisory Committee (1999-2000).
Intercollegiate Women’s Studies Coordinating Committee (1999-
2000).
Faculty Advisor, Out Proud, CMC’s Gay-Straight Alliance.
Steering Committee for the Tenth Annual Southern California
Women's Studies Conference, University of California, San Diego,
April 8, 2000.
CMCAA Alumni Leadership Conference Speaker, September 18, 1999.
Panel Participant, New Faculty Orientation, Fall 1999.

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Moderator of Session on Diversity for Freshman Orientation, Fall
1999.
Reaccreditation Steering Committee, 1998-1999.
FIS for Christopher Chase’s Tenure Review (1999).
CMC National Awards Committee, 1998-1999.
Committee to Study the Quality of Education at CMC, 1997-1999.
Administration Committee, CMC, 1996-1998.
Watson Fellowship Committee, CMC, 1995-1998.
Steering Committee for the Ninth Annual Southern California
Women's Studies Conference, Cal. State Northridge, April 17, 1999.
Invited presenter for the follow-up session for the Mellon
Lecture-Free Learning Seminar, October 1998.
Specialist Reader for Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, since
1994.
Co-Chair, Steering Committee for the Eighth Annual Southern
California Women's Studies Conference, Cal. State Fullerton, April
18, 1998.
Library Council, Claremont Colleges, 1995-1997.
1996-97 Vice-Chair.
Steering Committee, Celebration of 20 Years of Co-Education at
CMC, Spring 1997.
Session Facilitator, Celebration of 20 Years of Co-Education at
CMC, May 3 1997.
Intercollegiate Women's Studies Curriculum Committee, Claremont
Colleges, 1995-1997.
Faculty Advisor, CMC Women's Forum, 1995-1997.
Faculty/Student Liaison for Women's Studies, 1995-1997.
Co-Chair, Steering Committee for the Seventh Annual Southern
California Women's Studies Conference, Cal. State, Fullerton,
April 19, 1997.
Dunbar Fellowship Faculty Mentor, 1995-96 [Lori Tribbett]; 1996-97
[Eleanor Matteliano].
Intercollegiate Women's Studies Field Group, 1994-present.
Speaker at CMC Parent's Orientation, 1995 and 1996.
McKenna Weekend participant, 1996 and 1997.
Lecture on misogynist humor for Women's Forum, Spring 1996.
Committee to award Honors in Women's Studies, Spring, 1995.
Steering Committee for the Sixth Annual Southern California
Women's Studies Conference, Scripps College, April 20, 1996.
Dramaturg for Pomona College's Production of Aphra Behn's The
Rover. Directed by David Catanzarite. November 9-11, 16-18,
1995.

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Steering Committee for the Fifth Annual Southern California
Women's Studies Conference, Claremont McKenna College, April 22,
1995.
Faculty Research Seminar "Laughing Feminism: Comic Strategies in
18th-Century England," Intercollegiate Women's Studies, Claremont
Colleges, February 22, 1995.
Guest Lecturer, ID 26 Introduction to Women's Studies, Sue
Mansfield, Fall 1994.
MEMBERSHIPS:
American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Pacific Southwest Women's Studies Association