Claire Sommers
Lecturer, Department of English
Director of Undergraduate Studies of Drama
Claire Sommers is a Lecturer in the Performing Arts and English departments at Washington University in St. Louis where she teaches courses that focus on early modern literature and drama, the reception of the classics, adaptation studies, and critical theory. Her research, teaching, and spiritual life center the power of narrative because it is through the interpretation of story, text, and image that we better ourselves and can be of service to others. To that end, Claire examines writers as readers and revisers of earlier texts and histories. She believes that in the same way that these writers adapt older works to yield new insights into their own eras, we should read earlier texts in order to better understand our own world and lived experiences. Her book project Chimeras, Centaurs, and Satyrs: Creating Hybrid Texts in Antiquity and Early Modern England draws on premodern scientific texts and travel narratives to reframe hybridity as a figure of transcendence in classical and early modern literatures. Her current research project Drama Queens, inspired by the eponymous class that she teaches, examines 16th and 17th century dramas to position Cleopatra as a historical analogue for Elizabeth I and show that both sovereigns were early examples of celebrities.
Claire has always made service a priority in her professional life. At WashU, she has focused extensively on generating undergraduate engagement and enrollment for both of her departments. She is the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Performing Arts department and the Faculty Coordinator of the Shakespeare’s Globe summer study abroad program in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Claire is also the faculty advisor for the English Honor Society and is the chapter founder and faculty advisor for the Performing Arts Honor Society. She is also a part of the Modern Language Association’s Delegate Assembly Organization Committee and previously served as the Exhibits and Professional Development Coordinator for the Northeast Modern Language Association.
Claire earned her PhD in Comparative Literature with a concentration in classical Greek and Latin and early modern English and French literatures from The Graduate Center CUNY, where she created and served as Founding Director of the Critical Theory Certificate Program. She has also taught at Fordham University, Hunter College, and Baruch College.
Claire is a Roman Catholic and a member of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.