Mail Code CS
Eva Rueschmann
Adele Simmons Hall 105
413.559.6299
On sabbatical fall 2025 and leave of absence 2026.
Eva Rueschmann received her B.A. in English and French languages and literatures at the Ruprecht-Karls University of Heidelberg in Germany, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also worked as a research and administrative assistant in the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies.
Her research and teaching interests include world literature and cinema with a special focus on Australian and New Zealand film, exile and migration in transnational literature and film, gender studies, film studies, and contemporary cultural studies of popular culture.
She has published two books, Sisters on Screen: Siblings in Contemporary Cinema (Temple UP, 2000) and Moving Pictures, Migrating Identities (UP of Mississippi, 2003).
She is also the author of several essays on such topics as the film directors Margarethe von Trotta and Jane Campion, New Zealand cinema, diasporic female identities in Asian-American and Asian-Canadian films, African writer Mariama Ba, African American writers Jessie Fauset and Dorothy West, and psychoanalytic criticism. Her current book project focuses on coming-of-age narratives and postcolonial identities in Australian and New Zealand cinema.
Get ready to embark on an exhilarating journey through contemporary world cinemas from 2000 to the present! In this course, we'll delve into the narrative tradition of feature filmmaking, exploring a diverse range of cinematic styles, story traditions, authorship, genre conventions, and politics of representation from around the globe. You'll become immersed in the world of film as we closely analyze camera work, editing, art direction, narrative, and style, gaining a deep understanding of the power of visual storytelling. From the surreal cityscapes of France to the stark landscapes of Australia, from the contemporary social tensions in Iran to the dual influences of tradition and modernity in African film, we'll uncover the rich tapestry of world cinema, delving into the historical, political, and cultural contexts that have shaped these significant films. We will watch and analyze works from France, Spain, Mexico, Mali, Kenya, Iran, Norway, China, South Korea, India, Brazil, Great Britain, and others and read scholarly essays and reviews that explore film history and criticism. Keywords:world cinema, narrative film, storytelling, genre, authorship
This course will explore the rich and diverse history of Australian and New Zealand cinema. From the films of the Australian Film Renaissance of the 1970s to the latest acclaimed works, we will examine the unique cultural, social, and political contexts that have shaped these dynamic film industries. We will explore the work of pioneering filmmakers such as Peter Weir, Jane Campion, and George Miller, as well as contemporary directors like Taika Waititi, Ivan Sen, and Warwick Thornton. Through screenings and critical analysis, we will examine the key themes and stylistic elements that define Australian and New Zealand cinema, including their use of landscape, their representation of Indigenous cultures, and their engagement with issues of identity and nationalism. By the end of the course, you will have gained a deep understanding of the history and development of Australian and New Zealand cinema, and will be able to critically analyze and appreciate the unique qualities of these vibrant national cinemas. Keywords:Australian and New Zealand cinema, film history, national cinema, cultural studies, film aesthetics
Explore the enthralling world of Daphne du Maurier and Gothic fiction in this immersive course. Through an in-depth examination of du Maurier's iconic works such as "Rebecca," "Jamaica Inn," "The Birds" and others, students will analyze the themes, characters, and atmospheric settings that define her writing. We'll also delve into the broader Gothic literary tradition, tracing its origins and evolution, examining how du Maurier both embraces and challenges its conventions. Through discussions, critical analysis, and research projects, students will gain insight into the psychological complexities and cultural influences that shape du Maurier's narratives. Additionally, we will explore how du Maurier's writing has influenced modern Gothic literature and film. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper appreciation for du Maurier's contribution to Gothic fiction and an enhanced understanding of the enduring legacy and impact of the genre. Keywords:Gothic fiction, British literature, Daphne du Maurier
This Division I seminar treats the international modern and contemporary short story as a distinctive genre of fiction. Beginning with selected influential 19th- and early 20th-century examples of the American and European short story (Poe, Chekhov, Maupassant), we will devote most of the course to the forms, techniques, and themes of short stories from around the globe. The course will focus on different case studies of short fiction from South Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the United States and explore how short fiction has engaged with, among other themes, the subject of personal and collective trauma, and addressed race and power, colonialism and imperialism, and contemporary cultural and social issues. Beyond the various narrative forms of the story (parable, allegory, fantasy, ghost story, science fiction, postmodern meta-fiction etc.), the course also offers an introduction to different approaches to literary analysis, especially in a comparative, cross-cultural context. Keywords:short story, comparative literature, world literature, literary analysis, adaptation
The course explores the thriller as a popular literary and film genre. An amalgam of intrigue, suspense and mystery, the thriller evolved from Gothic romance novels and both Victorian adventure tales and 'sensation' (crime) fiction in response to shifting social anxieties. We focus on several influential forms of the genre, including Gothic-influenced romantic thrillers dramatizing threats to women and the constraints of the domestic sphere; and espionage stories and related crime thrillers reflecting fears of deception, conspiracy, war and the pursuit of power and wealth. Thrillers evoke a world of psychological and existential uncertainty, where everyday life is infused by suspicion and paranoia and where haunting and psychological doubles express the complexity of identity. Classic thriller novels and films as well as contemporary reformulations and queering of the genre will be discussed. A third of the course will also focus on how BIPOC writers and filmmakers have used this popular genre for social critique, to address the social and political dimensions of fear, race relations and racism, and the disenfranchisement of Native Americans. Keywords:Literature, film, genre, Gothic, thriller
Cinema travels through time much as the human memory can, reliving moments in various times with "limitless possibilities," wrote Marxist philosopher and literary historian Gyorgy Lukacs. In this seminar, we will explore the ways in which global films engage with and can manipulate time and memory, both thematically and in terms of its aesthetic devices and different genre forms. We will examine how cinema as a time-based medium addresses nostalgia, trauma, dreams, and amnesia on both an individual and collective level. Drawing on historically and autobiographically inspired feature films, science fiction, coming-of-age stories and other genres, we will discuss cinema's ability to mythologize, memorialize and critically reflect on the past, present and future as spaces of socio-historical change, addressing class, race and gender roles, family dynamics, war, politics, and other themes. Possible films include La Jetee; Cleo from 5 to 7; A Very Long Engagement; Atonement; The Lives of Others; Volver; Au Revoir Les Enfants; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Moonlight; Cinema Paradiso; Interstellar; The Tree of Life, 2046, and others. Keywords:Film studies, time, memory studies, history, trauma
This course examines the European New Waves of the 1960s and 1970s, a pivotal era of artistic innovation and revisionism in narrative filmmaking. Focusing on the cinema of this period as a cultural text and formal experiment, we will begin by exploring the importance of Italian Neorealism and continue with a close examination of modernism in European cinema focusing on key works from France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. We conclude with a foray into the Japanese New Wave and Cinema Novo in Brazil. Strong emphasis will be placed on the attempts to expand traditional film language, visual representations of social and psychological realities, and the complexities of perception. Films by Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Melville, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, John Schlesinger, Vera Chytilova, Nagisa Oshima, and Glauber Rocha. KEYWORDS:New Wave cinemas, film history, film studies, European modernism
