Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Professor of English Jenna Grace Sciuto
PhD has released her second book, Intersecting Worlds: Colonial Liminality in US Southern
and Icelandic Literatures. The book examines the lingering impacts of colonialism
on identity, intimacy, and family dynamics across US Southern and Icelandic literatures.
Sciuto’s research has taken her across the globe, with multiple visits to Iceland
and Denmark. She began writing Intersecting Worlds during the early stages of the
COVID-19 pandemic and has since spent summers conducting research in Reykjavík.
In 2024, she was a Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellow, allowing her to live in downtown Reykjavík while working with the Árni Magnússon
Institute for Icelandic Studies. She will return to Iceland this summer as a writer-in-residence
at Skriðuklaustur – the historic home of Icelandic writer Gunnar Gunnarsson – where
she will further explore southern gothic tropes in Icelandic literature.
During a recent national podcast interview hosted by the Icelandic Association of Chicago, Sciuto reflected on the personal
and professional journey that shaped her book.
“I started writing Intersecting Worlds in the midst of the pandemic, and watching
it take shape over the past few years has been incredibly rewarding,” Sciuto said.
“Living in Reykjavík, even just for a summer, gave me such a deeper appreciation for
the literature and its relationship with place. The archival research I did at the
Árni Magnússon Institute really helped me uncover these surprising connections between
Icelandic and US Southern literatures.”
In March she presented a webinar for the Icelandic National League of the United States, joined in conversation by MCLA Professor Dr. Amber Engelson. Engelson is a professor
of transnational feminist rhetorics whose book The Hands of God at Work: Islamic Gender
Justice through Translingual Praxis was published in 2024.
One of Sciuto’s most exciting discoveries during her research was at the Special Collections
Library at the University of Virginia, where she found a copy of Brennunjáls Saga
gifted to William Faulkner by Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness. The book,
inscribed and signed by Icelandic writers during Faulkner’s 1955 State Department
visit to Iceland, serves as a tangible link between Icelandic and US Southern literary
traditions.
Sciuto’s latest book is available through the University Press of Mississippi: Intersecting Worlds. You can also listen to her podcast interview here: Podcast Link. To celebrate the release, MCLA hosted a launch event in January at the MOSAIC Event
Space.
