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Vera J. Camden is Professor of English at Kent State University, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. She is Training and Supervising Analyst at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center. Co-editor of American Imago and American Editor for the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. She specializes in seventeenth-century British literature, psychoanalysis, and comics.

EMPLOYMENT

Academic

Kent State University

Professor of English, Emerita, 2021-Present

Professor of English, 2004-2021

Associate Professor of English, 1991-2003

Associate Director, Center for Literature and Psychoanalysis, 1986-1994

EDUCATION

University of Virginia Ph.D. 1986

University of Chicago M.A. 1977

Arizona State University B.A. 1976 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1976

Awards and Grants

Textbook and Academic Author Association Book Production Grant, 2019

Kent State University Teaching Council Summer Grant, 2018

Kent State University Teaching Council Grant, 2017, 2018, 2020

Kent State University Teaching Council Travel Grant, 2017

Ohio Humanities Council December Major Grant: $10,000, 2016

Friends of the Cleveland Public Library Programming Initiative Grant: $5000, March 2016

Women’s Center Mentor Award: March 2015

College of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award April 2015

Robert Liebert Award, Columbia University Psychoanalytic Institute 2011

Research Grants (since 2000)

Travel and Research Grants (Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center), 1995-2005

Research Council Grants (KSU), 2000, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2020

Research Council Travel Grants (KSU), 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014

American Psychoanalytic Association Academy Committee Travel Grant, 2012, 2013, 2017

Teaching Specialties: Kent State University

Literature: Eighteenth century novel, seventeenth century literature and history, British Puritans: Milton and Bunyan, early modern women’s writing

Popular culture: Film, comics, graphic novel, children’s and young adult literature

Theory: Psychoanalytic critical theory, trauma theory, medical humanities, graphic medicine, narrative medicine, public humanities

Teaching Specialties: Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center

Psychoanalytic technique, relational psychoanalysis, introduction to Freud, theory and practice of D.W. Winnicott, literature and psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, cultural contexts of psychoanalysis

Consulting
The American Board of Psychoanalysis, Fellow, 2016-present

Case Western Reserve University, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, 2005-present

Rutgers University, Clinical Faculty, School of Social Work, 2012-2016.

Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center Training and Supervising Analyst, 2006-present

University Hospitals of Cleveland, Resident Supervisor, Department of Psychiatry, 2004-present

Geographic Rule Supervising Analyst for the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education of the NYU Medical School, 2016-2020. 

Co-Editor, American Imago, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000-present.

Editorial Board Member, Bunyan Studies, 2001-present.

Editorial Board Member, The American Psychologist, 2003-present.

American Editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Routledge, 2018-present. 

Conferences and Exhibits Organized

“Cleveland on the Couch,” Exhibit, The National Museum of Psychology, September 2021- February 2022.  

Wonder Woman Symposium, Kent State University and Cleveland Public Library, September 2016.

Triennial International John Bunyan Society, Kent State University, October 2001. 

PUBLICATIONS (selected)

Edited Books

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Psychoanalysis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). 

Wonder Woman: 80 Years Later (New York: Routledge, 2021).

She Being Dead Yet Speaketh: The Franklin Family Papers. The Other Voice Series (English language series editor, Elizabeth H. Hageman), Toronto: Iter Press and Tempe: Arizona State University Press, 2020.

Trauma and Transformation: The Political Progress of John Bunyan. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2007.

The Narrative of the Persecutions of Agnes Beaumont. Lansing, Michigan State University Press, 1992, 2002. 

Compromise Formations: Current Directions in Psychoanalytic Criticism. Kent State University Press, 1989.

Book Chapters

“An Afterword on Apocalypse and Afterwardness” in New Psychoanalytic Readings of Shakespeare: Cool Reason and Seething Brains edited by James Stone and James Newlin (Routledge, Forthcoming July 2022).

“Domestic Dissent and Domestic Devotion in Mary Franklin,” in People and Piety: Protestant Devotional Identities and Religious Writing in Early Modern England, ed. Elizabeth Clarke and Robert W. Daniel. Manchester University Press, 2020.

“John Bunyan in Prison: A Cure Through Creativity.” In The Oxford Handbook to John Bunyan Eds. Michael Davies and W. R. Owens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018, 470-87.

“Carnality into Creativity: Sublimation in Bunyan’s ‘Apology’ to The Pilgrim’s Progress.” In Immortality and the Body in Renaissance British Literary Culture, Eds. Steven Fallon and John Rumrich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2018, 77-90.

“The Psychoanalytic Progress of Alison Bechdel.” In The Muse: Psychoanalytic Explorations of Creative Inspiration. Ed., Adele Tutter, New York: Routledge, 2016, 211-256.

“‘Pure Heroines’ on Campus: New-Wave Feminism and Popular Culture.” In The Status of Women. Ed. Vivian Pender, M.D., Karnac Press, 2016, 29-78.

“The Touch of Evil and the Triumph of Love in Harry Potter.” In Critical Insights: Good and Evil. Ed. Margaret Breen. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2013, 253-273.

“The Goodwives of Bedford.” In The Cambridge Companion to John Bunyan, Ed. Anne Dunan-Page. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2010, 51-66.

“The Past is a Foreign Country: The Uses of Literature in the Psychoanalytic Dialogue.” In Narrative Medicine and Psychoanalysis. Eds. Peter Rudnytsky and Rita Charon. New York, SUNY University Press, 2008, 99-118.

“Young Man Bunyan,” in Trauma and Transformation: The Political Progress of John Bunyan. Ed. Vera J. Camden. Palo Alto, Stanford University Press, 2007, 41-62.

“That of Esau: Hebrews xii, 16-17 in Grace Abounding.” In John Bunyan: Reading Dissenting Writing. Ed. N. H. Keeble. Oxford and New York: Peter Lang, 2002, 133-165.

Articles

“The Thought Bubble and Its Vicissitudes in Contemporary Comics.” American Imago 77, no. 3 (2020): 603-638.

“Our new feature: Narrative Medicine” with Eleanor J. Molloy, and Cynthia F. Bearer. Pediatric Research 88 (2020): 343-344.

“‘The Goddess of Presence and the Birth of the Self in a Psychoanalytic Treatment” The Psychoanalytic Quarterly 87.4 (2018): 639-665. 

“‘Cartoonish Lumps’: The Surface Appeal of Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother?" Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 9.1 (2018), 93-111.

“‘The Skin She Lives In’: The Skin Ego in the Sculpture of Ursula von Rydingsvard.” American Imago 70.4 (2013): 585-606.

“The Unbearable Inner Light: John Bunyan’s Controversy with the Quakers,” Bunyan Studies 14 (2010): 34-56.

“Psychoanalysis and the Academy: Practical Aspects and Philosophical Foundations” American Imago 67.4 (2010): 601-605.

“‘My Capital Secret’: Literature and the Psychoanalytic Agon” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis 90.5 (2009): 1123-1137.

“‘The Language of Tenderness and of Passion: Sex in Paradise’ or The Place of Sex in Paradise: A Response to Gavin Miller.” New Literary History 38.4 (2007): 683-702.

“Attending to Sarah Wight: Little Writer of God’s Wonders.” Bunyan Studies 11 (2004): 94-131.

Edited Journal Special Issues

“Comics on the Couch: Psychoanalysis and Graphic Medicine.” Ed. with Valentino. L. Zullo, American Imago, forthcoming.

“The Interview Issue.” Ed. with Valentino L. Zullo, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12.4 (August 2021).

“Comics on the Couch.” Ed.  American Imago 77.3 (2020).

“Wonder Woman and the Female Superhero.” Ed. with Valentino L. Zullo, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 9.6 (2018).

“Identity, Agency and Gender in John Bunyan’s England.” Ed. with K. Hill. Bunyan Studies 11 (2004). 

“Early Women Analysts.” Ed. American Imago 60.2 (2003).  

“Dissenting Women in John Bunyan’s World and Work.” Ed. Bunyan Studies 7 (1997).

Journal Editorships

Co-Editor, American Imago, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000-present.

Editorial Board Member, Bunyan Studies, 2001-present.

Editorial Board Member, The American Psychologist, 2003-present.

American Editor, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Routledge, 2018-present. 

Interviews with Comics Creators

“Something Happened’: An Interview with Lynda Barry, in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, forthcoming.

“‘It's that guttural, human voice; that's comics’: An Interview with Ken Krimstein,” in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 

“‘History is not over; we are made of it.’: an interview with Nora Krug,” in The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 

“I try to stay true to my memories, even if that means making a mistake”: An Interview with Riad Sattouf, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12.4 (August 2021):333-42

““I Made the Scene”: An Interview with Carol Tyler, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12.4 (August 2021): 316-32.

“I’m trying to make a really pleasant garden path for you, a ‘Trojan horse’ for history!”: An Interview with Thi Bui. Journal of Graphic Novels and comics 12.4 (August 2021): 298- 315. 

“‘My claim to fame is footnotes’: An Interview with Derf Backderf.” In Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 12. 4 (August 2021): 281-97. 

“Truth, Justice, and the Amazonian Way: An Interview with Greg Rucka.” In Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 9.6 (December 2018): 621-33. 

Blogs

“Reading to Recover.” Fifteen Eighty Four: Academic Perspectives from Cambridge University Press, forthcoming.

“Psychoanalysis and the Pandemic.” 

Reviews (since 2004)

John Bunyan’s Imaginary Writings in Context. Nancy Rosenfeld (New York/Abingdon: Routledge 2018), Bunyan Studies 23 (2019): 99-103.

Dream House: An Intimate Portrait of Philip Johnson’s Glass House. Adele Tutter (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press 2017), International Journal of Psychoanalysis 100. 3 (2019): 616-19.

Space and Psyche. Eds. Elizabeth Danze, Stephen Sonnenberg (Austin, TX. Center for American Architecture and Design 2015) International Journal of Psychoanalysis (2017): 1020-25.

“An Introduction to ‘She Being Dead Yet Speaketh’: The Private Papers of Mary Franklin” The Recorder: The Newsletter of the International John Bunyan Society (2014): 34-35.

Imagination from Fantasy to Delusion by Lois Oppenheim. New York, Routledge, 2012, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis (Spring 2014): 1029-35.

Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama and Fun Home: A Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel in “New Voices” The American Psychoanalyst (Winter, 2012) 19, 30.

With Culture in Mind, Psychoanalytic Stories Ed, Muriel Dimen. Division/Review: A Psychoanalytic Forum 4 (2011): 7-8.

Rev. A Story of Her Own: the Female Oedipus Complex, Reexamined and Renamed. Nancy Kulish and Deanna Holtzman, American Imago 68.1 (Spring 2011): 139-149.

Rev. The Desire of the Analysts ed. Henry Sussman, SUNY, 2007, Intertexts, Fall, 2009, 153-156.

Rev. Adaptations by Phillip Freeman, American Imago, 65.2 (Summer 2008, 113-117.

Rev. Graceful Reading, by Michael Davies, Bunyan Studies 12 (Winter, 2007): 125-128.

Invited Lectures

“Reflections on Freud and Religion,” Temple-Tifereth Israel, Beachwood, Ohio, March 2023. A lecture in honor of the collection of Andy Warhol’s “Ten Jewish Geniuses.”  

“The Other Voice of the English Dissenting Women,” Aix-Marseille Université, France. April 2021.

“Psychoanalysis, Literature and Companionate Reading” Symposium on Shakespeare and Psychoanalysis, Case Western Reserve University, February 2020.

“The Uses of Literature in the Psychoanalytic Process: Clinic, Culture, Cases” (Plenary). American Association of Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work (AAPCSW), March 2017, Baltimore, Maryland.

“Female Superheroes and the New Feminism.” Hawken School, Cleveland 2014, 2015, 2016.

“Applied Psychoanalysis and the History of Comics: Depth vs. Chutzpah” (Plenary).

Psychoanalytic Association of New York University (PANY), December 2015.

“‘We Are All in the Gutter’: Alison Bechdel and the Body” Get Graphic Series, Cleveland Public Library, March 2015.

“Autographics” (Plenary). Handwriting and Print Symposium, “Making Sense,” Texas A&M University, October 2014, organized by Margaret J.M. Ezell.

“Introduction to the Mary Franklin Project for the Other Voice Series.” The International John Bunyan Society London Symposium, May 2014.

“Cartoons, Comics and Couches: The narrative Progress of Alison Bechdel.” Sixth International Symposium on Psychoanalysis and Art, “Art/Object.” Florence, Italy, May 2014.

“Alison’s Autographics.” University of Florida. Second Annual Symposium on the Psychological Study of the Arts, February 2014.

“The (Hand)Writing on the Walls: Early (Graphic) Narratives. Bowling Green State University. Novel Media: Emergent Narratives Forms From Domestic Papers to Graphic Narratives, April 2013.

“The Face of a Psychoanalytic Treatment” (Plenary). University of Sussex conference on Psychoanalysis, Literature and Film. April 2012.

“The Skin-Ego in the Sculpture of Ursula von Rydingsvard” Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland, Ohio, February 2012.

“Creativity and Conscience: Bunyan in Prison and Freud’s Imprisoned Dreamer” (Plenary). Emory University, and the Emory Psychoanalytic Studies Program, Atlanta, Georgia, “Creativity Across the Life Cycle” April 2011.

Recent Presentations

“The Case of the Comics: Drawing Lines of Fire,” International Psychoanalytic Association, Cartagena, Columbia, July 2023.

“Silence, Censorship, and Comics: Taking Psychoanalysis off the Couch: A Response to Louis Menand,” American Psychoanalytic Association, June 2023.

“The Martyrology of Mary Franklin,” Early Modern Words, Loughborough University, UK. July 2022. Panel chaired by Margaret J. M. Ezell 

“The Varieties of Autobiographical Experience: The Experience of Mary Franklin and the “Great Persecution of 1660-1688,” International John Bunyan Society, Northumbria, UK, July 2022.

“Imprisonment, Household Harassment, and the Heritage of Dissent in The Experience of Mary Franklin,” The Renaissance Society of America, Dublin, Ireland, March 2022. 

“‘She Being Dead Yet Speaketh’: Mary Franklin’s Private Papers and Public Speech During the Monmouth Rebellion,” Religion and Free Speech in the Early Modern Period Conference, Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 2021. 

“Piety, Persecution, and Politics in Mary Franklin’s ‘Private Papers,’” The Renaissance Society of America, April 2021.

“The Sounds of Sermons and Hymns in Hannah Burton’s 1782 London Diary,” The International John Bunyan Society (Regional Conference in Northumbria), April 2021.

““The Thought Bubble and Its Vicissitudes in Contemporary Comics,” Modern Language Association, virtual conference, January 2021. 

“Psychoanalysis, Literature and Companionate Reading” Symposium on Shakespeare and Psychoanalysis, Case Western Reserve University, February 2020.

“Comics and the Clinic: Mental Health and Comics in Practice” at NYPL at NYCC. New York, NY. October 2019.

“Hannah Burton and Sermon ‘Gadding.’” Reading the Ministry, University of Aberdeen, Scotland, November 2019.

“#Metoo: Women and New Media.” University Teaching Council Roundtable, Kent State University, October 2019.

“Dissenting Women in Early Modern Manuscripts: Mary Franklin.” International John Bunyan Society, Alberta, Canada, August 2019.

“Women Leading the World: A Captain Marvel Panel at the Happy Dog” with the City Club of Cleveland, March 2019.

“Mary Franklin: Nursing Mother,” The Renaissance Society of America, Toronto, March 2019.

“Rethinking Dialogue in Novel Media.” International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference, Bournemouth University, June 2018.

Panel Discussant, “The Piggle Speaks: Re-reading Winnicott’s Case in Light of Recent Conversations with the Adult ‘Gabrielle’” featuring Deborah Leupnitz and Alison Bechdel.

International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education, November 13, 2017.

GSO Faculty Panel, Kent State University, August 2016.

“John Bunyan: Calvinism and Carnality” Eighth Triennial International John Bunyan Society Conference, Aix-en-Provence, July 2016.

Roundtable Discussion, “Graphic Novels/Novel Architecture” with Francoise Mouley and Chris Ware, Cleveland Museum of Art, April 2016.

Roundtable Moderator, “Graphic Novel/Novel Architecture Symposium.” The Cleveland Museum of Art, April 2016.

“Revisiting Dialogue” Roundtable Panel Presentation on “The Speech Bubble and Interiority in Comics,” The Modern Language Association, Austin, Texas, January 2016.

“Dialogue with Ursula von Rydingsvard” Psychoanalysis and the Arts Series, The American Psychoanalytic Association, New York, January 2015.

Interview with Donald Antrim, The American Psychoanalytic Association, New York, January 2015.

“Transience and Transference in the Autobiographics of Alison Bechdel—a conversation with Bechdel” International Federation of Psychoanalytic Educators, Philadelphia, October 2013.

“John Bunyan in Prison” Seventh Triennial International John Bunyan Society Conference, Princeton University, August 2013.

“The Face of a Psychoanalytic Treatment” (Plenary). The International Psychoanalytic Association Congress, Mexico City, August 2011.

“Theme and Variations: The Face of a Psychoanalytic Treatment” 16^th Annual Leibert Lecture, Columbia Psychoanalytic Institute, April 2010.

“The Unbearable Inner Light: Bunyan and the Quakers” Keele University, England, Sixth International John Bunyan Society Conference, August 2010.

“Opportunities for Psychoanalysis: Philadelphia and Beyond” MLA, Philadelphia, December 2009.

“Panel with Christopher Bollas: The Freudian Moment” MLA, San Francisco, December 2008.

“The Case of John Bunyan” Richardson Seminar, The Institute for the History of Psychiatry, Cornell University, March 21, 2007.

“Trauma and Toleration,” Fifth International John Bunyan Society Triennial Conference on “Early Modern Religion and Literature in Old and New England,” Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 15-19, 2007.

Panels Chaired

“The Return to Psychoanalysis: Hurry Up Please It's Time,” Modern Language Association, January 2024, Philadelphia, PA.

“Psychoanalysis Across the Disciplines: Forms of Hatred in Contemporary Culture: Passivity and Sadomasochism,” February 2023, New York, NY

“The Language of Psychoanalysis: Subjects, Objects, Animals, and Enemies,” Modern Language Association, Roundtable, January 2023, San Francisco, CA.

“Reading to Recover: The Uses of Literature in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.” Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center, February 2022, Cleveland, OH. 

“Comics on the Couch,” Modern Language Association, Roundtable, January 2021, Toronto, Ontario.

“Politics and Psychoanalysis” Presentation by Noelle McAfee, American Psychoanalytic Association, February 2020.

“Yukio Mishima’s Patriotism” Presentation by Nina Cornyetz. American Psychoanalytic Association, February 2019.

“The Name of the Piggle.” Presentation by Deborah Leupnitz and Martha Nussbaum. American Psychoanalytic Association, February 15, 2017.

“All for Art: Louise Nevelson.” Presentation by Laurie Wilson. American Psychoanalytic Association, February 2017.

“‘Leap Tall Building in a Single Bound’: Psychoanalysis, Comics and Architecture” Modern Language Association, January 2017.

“Mental health and the United Nations.” The American Psychoanalytic Association, January 2016.

“Psychoanalysis and the Arts: Louise Nevelson.” The American Psychoanalytic Association, January 2015.

“Shame and Secrets: the Literary Memoir – Dialogue with Donald Antrim and Kathyrn Harrison.” Artist and Scholar Series, The American Psychoanalytic Association, January 2015.

“The Living Self and the Literary Self.” The Modern Language Association, January 2014.

“On Line and On the Couch Virtuality.” The American Psychoanalytic Association, January 2014.

“The Other Side of Psychoanalysis.” The Modern Language Association, January 2013.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND OFFICES

Kent State University 1984-present

Institute for Bibliographical and Textual Editing, Fellow 2008-present

The Newberry Library Consortium Representative, 2011-2016

Women’s Studies, Affiliate, 1996-present

Wick Poetry Center, Advisory Board, 2009-2014

College of Arts & Sciences Advisory Committee, 2005, 2010

Research and Graduate Studies, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2014

Phi Beta Kappa, Members in Course, 1993-present

Research and Graduate Studies, NEH Review, 2003

Research and Graduate Studies, Associate Dean Search Committee, 2003

Distinguished Scholar Committee, 2000

President’s Women’s Resource Center Committee, 1995

Knight Chair Search Committee, 2005-2006

Faculty Search Committee, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2016

Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center 1988-Present

Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center Foundation, Trustee, 2007-2010

Admissions Committee Chair, 2009-present

The Psychoanalyst Assistance Committee, 2006-present

The Psychiatric Education Foundation Fund, 2005-2014

The Brian and Dora Bird Foundation, Trustee, 2000-2013

The American Psychoanalytic Association, Member, 1996-present

Psychoanalysis and the Arts, 2003-present

Psychoanalysis and the Academy, 2010-present

The CORST Essay Prize Committee, Founding Chair, 1997-2007

The Committee on Research and Special Training (CORST), 1995-2017

The Center for Advanced Psychoanalysis, Fellow, 2009-2013

The Board on Professional Standards, Fellow, 2009-2015

The Committee on Certification, 2012-2013

The Committee on Institutes, 2015-2017

Editorial Boards and Consultation

Columbia University, Dept of Psychiatry Faculty Review, 2021

Hong Kong Baptist University, Dept. of English, External Department Site Review, November 2010, 2017

International John Bunyan Society, President, 1999-2001, current Board Member

Site Visit Chair, MA in Psychoanalysis, Emory University, 2008

Literature Compass Editorial Consultant, Blackwell, Oxford, 2005-2007

The American Psychoanalyst, 2003-present

The Israel Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2000-2003

Bunyan Studies, 2006-present

The Brown University Women Writers Project, 1991-2013

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1999-2001

External Review

Dartmouth University (2002), Texas A&M (2006), Brandeis University (2009), Hong Kong Baptist University (2012), Weill Cornell Medical College (2014), King’s College (Vancouver, 2017), Manchester Metropolitan University (2016), 3M National Teaching Fellowship (Canada, 2017), University of Warwick (2018)

External Reader

Johns Hopkins University Press; University of Chicago Press; Yale University Press; Routledge Press; Thames and Hudson Press; Kent State University Press; Cambridge University Press; Fordham University Press; Karnac Books; The American Psychoanalytic Association Book Prize, 2014-present; selected journals: American Imago; Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association; Modernism/Modernity; Bunyan Studies; Prose Studies; International Journal of Psychoanalysis; New Literary History; Tulsa Studies in Language and Literature, Auto/Biography Studies, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.