Curriculum Vitae - Department of English - Louisiana State University

VITA: MICHELLE LOUISE ZERBA
Departments of English and Foreign Languages mzerba@michellezerba.com
Louisiana State University 225-578-3048
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
mzerba@michellezerba.com
EDUCATION
Ph.D. 1982 University of California, Berkeley, Comparative Literature
M.A. 1977 University of California, Berkeley, Comparative Literature
B.A. 1975 University of California, Irvine, English and Classics
HONORS AND AWARDS
• Erich and Lea Sternberg Professorship, 2013-2014
• Manship Grant, 2013
• LSU Regents’ Research Grant, 2014, 2007
• LSU Teaching Enhancement Fund Grant, 2013
• Nomination for MLA Scaglione Prize in Comparative Literary Studies, 2013
• Nomination for René Wellek Prize of American Comparative Literature Association, 2012
• Finalist, NEH Summer Stipend 2013
• ATLAS Grant, 2010-2011
• Grant for Southern Crossroads, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, 2004
• Grant for Southern Crossroads, Mayoral Office, Baton Rouge, 2004
• Grant for Southern Crossroads, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, 2003
• State Funding from Louisiana Legislature for Southern Crossroads, 2004
• Outstanding Teacher, Student Government Association, 2004
• Honors College Tiger Athletic Foundation Faculty Award, 1999
• Alpha Lambda Delta Freshman Honor Society, Superior Instruction,1996, 1998, 1999
• Summer Faculty Research Stipend, Louisiana State University, 1992, 1997
• Member of Phi Beta Kappa, 1977-present
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
• Louisiana State University
o Professor, English, Classics, Comparative Literature, 2013-
o Associate Professor, English, Classics, Comparative Literature, 1986-2013
o Director and Producer, Southern Crossroads, 2002-2005
o Associate Chair of English, 2003-2004
o Director, LSU Study Abroad Program in Greece and Turkey, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010
o Director, Program in Comparative Literature, 1988-91
• University of Michigan, Assistant Professor, Classical Studies, 1982-86
PUBLICATIONS
Books
• Doubt and Skepticism in Antiquity and the Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
• Tragedy and Theory: The Problem of Conflict Since Aristotle (Princeton University Press, 1988).
Articles (Selected)
• “What Penelope Knew: Doubt and Scepticism in Homer’s Odyssey.” Classical Quarterly 59.2
(2009): 295-316.
• “Odyssean Charisma and the Uses of Persuasion.” American Journal of Philology 130.3 (2009): 313-
339.

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Articles (Selected) (cont.)
• “Modalities of Tragic Doubt in Homer’s Odyssey, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, and Shakespeare’s
Othello.” Comparative Literature 61 (2009): 1-25.
• “The Frauds of Humanism: Cicero, Machiavelli, and the Rhetoric of Imposture.” Rhetorica 22
(2004): 215-240.
• “Love, Envy, and Pantomimic Morality in Cicero’s De Oratore.” Classical Philology 98 (2003): 299-
321.
• “Medea Hypokrites.” Arethusa, 35 (2002): 315-337.
• “Interpreting Greek Tragedy: History, Theory, and the New Philology.” In History, Tragedy, Theory:
Dialogues on Athenian Drama, ed. Barbara Goff (University of Texas Press, 1995) 38-58.
• “Socratic Magic: Enchantment, Irony, and Persuasion in Some Dialogues of Plato.” Classical
World 87 (1994): 275-307.
• “Aristotle's Rhetoric: Theory, Truth, and Metarhetoric.” In Cabinet of the Muses: Essays on Classical
and Comparative Literature in Honor of Thomas G. Rosenmeyer, ed. Donald Mastronarde and Mark
Griffith (Scholars Press, 1990) 241-256.
• “On Greek Tragedy and the Kantian Sublime." Comparative Drama 18 (1984): 311-334.
Reprinted in Drama and the Classical Heritage: Comparative and Critical Essays, ed. Clifford
Davidson et al., AMS Press, 1993, pp. 84-107.
ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PROJECTS
Creator of Southern Crossroads: An Intersection of Diverse Artistic Expressions. Program series that brought
Louisiana State University together with the historically black Southern University in a partnership
designed to enhance diversity in the arts and humanities.
• Producer and Director. Southern Crossroads: Music, Literature, the Visual Arts, and All That Jazz.
Featuring pianist Ellis Marsalis, photographer Herman Leonard, sculptor John Scott, and actress
Lynn Whitfield. Premiered in the Union Theatre of Louisiana State University, April 2004.
• Producer and Director. Southern Crossroads: Samarkand—the Lyrics, Rhythms, and Spirit of the
Marketplace. Featuring Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, composer Tania León, choreographer Peter
Badejo. Premiered in the Shaw Center for the Performing Arts, Baton Rouge, March 2005.
CONFERENCES, PUBLIC LECTURES, READINGS (selected)
• Paper (invited), “Homer’s Odyssey: Exile and Homecoming,” Department of Classics, Yale
University, November 2013.
• Paper, “Odyssean Comparatisms: Women, Sites of Passage, and Concepts of Home in Homer’s
Odyssey,” International Comparative Literature Association, Paris, July 2013.
• Director, “Liberty, Politics, and Skepticism in Cicero and Montaigne,” Montreal, Liberty Fund,
June 2013.
• Seminar Leader, “Odyssey, Exile, Return,” American Comparative Literature Association,
Toronto, April 2013 (panel co-director and paper)
• Paper, “Cicero and Persona Theory,” American Political Science Association, New Orleans,
September 2012
• Paper, “The Odyssey and Trauma Theory,” American Comparative Literature Association,
Providence, RI, March 2012.
• Paper, “The Politics of Skepticism and Sublimity in Cicero and Machiavelli,” American Political
Science Association, Washington DC, September 2010.
• Director, “Liberty and Responsibility in Plutarch and Shakespeare’s Roman Plays,” Liberty
Fund, Indianapolis, May 2009.

• Paper, “The Frauds of Humanism: Cicero, Machiavelli, and the Rhetoric of Imposture,”
International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Madrid, 2003.
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
• American Comparative Literature Association
• Modern Language Association
• International Comparative Literature Association
• American Political Science Association
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