User:Nathaniel Dektor

I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. I primarily focus on popular film, British and American novels and poetry, and cultural criticism. I have a reading knowledge of French as well as experience with Spanish, Latin, and German. My theoretical viewpoint is rooted in Frankfurt School critical theory (primarily Adorno and Weber) and psychoanalysis (Freud and Lacan).

My B.S. and M.S. are in mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where I minored in music composition and theory and focused on flute performance of 18th century music and jazz piano. I have also performed on bass guitar in Afro-Cuban and funk ensembles. I have substantial course and professional work experience in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. I have delivered conference papers and published works on René Descartes, 13th century Mongol financial policy, and the movies Toy Story, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Jumanji, and Eyes Wide Shut (forthcoming). I have also published prose fiction and poetry in Minneapolis and New York City, where I have lived and worked. I have also lived and worked several years in the cities of Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC.

To achieve CZ's aim to avoid "encyclopedese"[1], I insist on economical, active, lively prose that holds the reader's attention through the end of the article. While I am as prone to dilatory communication as many others, I have taught many composition courses and have extensive experience editing my own and others' prose for directness of expression.