Ala Fink

Dissertation Fellow, 2019-20

Ala Fink, a Ph.D. candidate in English, received a 2019-20 Dominica and Frank Annese Dissertation Fellowship. Ala was able to complete and successfully defend the dissertation “Re-forming Righteousness: Milton’s Hebraic Poetics.” The dissertation argued that Milton’s theology and exegesis of righteousness was informed by Hebrew and Jewish exegesis, and that an ethics of righteousness shapes the poetics of Milton’s major poems. A second, long-term project involves the comparison of conceptualizations of literal interpretation in Reformation exegesis through an analysis of early modern discourse on literalism and the exegesis that attends it. She has presented papers at the Northeast MLA, the Newberry Library, and the RSA. She has served as an assistant editor for Milton Studies.