Sandra M. Leonard

I am an assistant professor of English at Kutztown University. I research aesthetic plagiarism–the intentionally transgressive reuse of written material in order to create beauty. My focus is on transatlantic nineteenth century, a period of particular conflict in international copyright and experimentation prior to the redefinition of authorship that came with modernism. I focus particularly on the work of Oscar Wilde, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. I also have complementary interests in composition studies, digital humanities, critical theory, literary linguistics, and popular culture.

I earned my PhD in literature and criticism in 2015 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Before this point, I was an adjunct for University of Delaware, Montgomery County Community College, and Delaware County Community College. My Masters education in literary linguistics at University of Nottingham has been extremely influential to my practice and views as a scholar.

I recently published an article on the experiences of contingent faculty in dealing with plagiarism in The Forum: Issues about Part-time and Contingent Faculty, and I have articles on aesthetic plagiarism forthcoming in the Journal of Narrative Theory and English Literature in Transition 1880-1920.

At Kutztown, I teach Introduction to Literature, Introduction American Literature, Introduction to English Linguistics, and College Composition.