Iris is a PhD student in Comparative Literature at UC Irvine, as well as a writer and Jewish educator. When she teaches composition, her main goal is to help students recognize argumentation all around them. Everything has an argument, and every argument is political. The importance of reading and writing is not just about "literature," but about everything. For her PhD research project, she studies Jewish mysticism and religious-philosophical debates. She has also published poetry and art criticism. She is from California and a graduate of UC and California public schools.
Courses Typically Taught:
- Writing 50
Themes Typically Taught:
- The Devil in Literature (WR50,) Writing About Illness
Course Descriptions:
- "Writing About Illness" studies autobiographical writing from disabled people across contexts. By reading about mentally ill women in Victorian times, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and COVID-19, we try to understand how people write about their own bodies, and how our own bodies are governed by global structures of power.
Textbooks Needed:
- "The Yellow Wallpaper," zines from the AIDS epidemic, music videos, disabled activist writing
Email: morrelli@uci.edu