Victoria N. Alexander

www.torialexander.com

alexander@dactyl.org

  Victoria N. Alexander, "Tori," is co-founder and director of the Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, in New York City. She earned her Ph.D. in 2002 in English at the Graduate Center, CUNY and did her dissertation research in teleology, evolutionary theory, and complexity science at the Santa Fe Institute. Published in the Antioch Review, English Language Notes, Nabokov Studies, Pynchon Notes, Emegence:Complexity & Organization, Biosemiotics and several visual art journals/magazines, Alexander has investigated chance and teleology in narrative by such diverse writers as Martin Amis, Saul Bellow, Louis Begley, Henry James, Milan Kundera, Vladimir Nabokov, C. S. Peirce, Thomas Pynchon, and Shakespeare. Her novels Smoking Hopes and Naked Singularity pursue similar themes involving coincidence and emergent intentionality. She has lectured at numerous institutions, science centers, museums, universities, private organizations, and conferences, and has taught writing at Hunter College, Mercy College, and the College of Staten Island. Her honors include a Rockefeller Foundation Residency (Bellagio, Italy), a Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women Fellowship, two Art & Science Lab Residencies (Santa Fe), Alfred Kazin Award for Best Dissertation (GC, CUNY), and the Washington Prize for Fiction.

 

Education

2002          Ph.D., English, The Graduate Center, City University New York.
                                     Dissertation title: Narrative Telos: The Ordering Tendencies of Chance.
                                     Fields of specialization: Narrative Theory, Philosophy of Science, and 20th Century Novels.
                                     Passed Oral Examinations with Academic Distinction.


Publications--Theory/Criticism

2009      "The Poetics of Purpose," Biosemiotics 2 (2009): 77-100.

2008      "The (Re)emergence of Language in Art," Dialogues, New York: Krugier Gallery.

2006      "Hopeful Monsters: Literary Teleology and Emergence." Emergence:Complexity & Organization 7: 3, 4.

2006      "C. S. Peirce's Theory of Self-Organization and The Crying of Lot 49," Pynchon Notes 52 .

2004      Review of Angus Fletcher's New Theory for American Poetry, in Style.

2003       "Nabokov, Teleology, and Insect Mimicry," Nabokov Studies 7 (2003).

2002       Review of Brian Boyd's Nabokov's Pale Fire and the Magic of Artistic Discovery,  in Antioch Review 60 (Summer 2002): 

              530-531.

2001       "Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect Mimicry," Working Papers Series 01-10-057 (Santa  Fe:

              Santa Fe Institute, 2001).

1999       "Polonius and Poland, a Coincidence," English Language Notes 36 (1999): 8-13.

1999       "Indeterminacy Revisited," zingmagazine 5 (1999): 33-38.

1997       "Louis Begley: Trying to Make Sense of It," Antioch Review 55 (1997): 292-304.

1994      "Martin Amis: Between the Influences of Bellow and Nabokov," Antioch Review52 (1994): 580-590. reprinted in Contemporary

             Literary Criticism 101, ed. Deborah Stanley (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1997), 78-83

 

Publications--Literary

2003       Naked Singularity (The Permanent Press, 2003).
2000       "S,"
murmur 2 (2000): 142-143.
1997        "The Bird Girl,"
Texas Short Stories (Browder Springs, 1997), 364-373.

1996        Smoking Hopes (The Permanent Press, 1996). 

 

Honors and Awards

2002       Alfred Kazin Award for Best Dissertation, English Department, Graduate Center, CUNY
2001       Scholar in Residence, Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy
2001       Dissertation Fellowship, Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women, NY, NY
2001       Writer in Residence, Art & Science Laboratory, Santa Fe, NM
2001       Visiting Researcher, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
2000       Writer in Residence, Art & Science Laboratory, Santa Fe, NM

1998        Academic Distinction, English Department, Graduate Center, CUNY
1995       Washington Prize for Fiction, Kaufman Literary Agency, Arlington, VA (Smoking Hopes)
1992       Bernard Cohen Prize for Fiction, Hunter College, NY, NY (Smoking Hopes)
1991        Mayor's Scholarship, Hunter College, NY, NY
1990       Bernard Cohen Prize for Fiction, Hunter College, NY, NY ("The Bird Girl")

 

Invited/Featured Lectures

2004       "Ecopoetics," with Marcella Durand and Lytle Shaw, Dactyl Foundation, NY, NY

2004       "Euthanasia and Fate," Virginia University, James Madison University, Delaware University.

2003       "On Euthanasia, Moral Choice, and Science," Hemlock Society, New York, NY;  Hudson Valley Humanists, New Paltz, NY; 

              Washington Secular Humanists, Baltimore, MD; Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, Colo Springs, CO; Denver Atheists, Denver,

              CO; FACT, San Antonio TX

2003       "Nabokov and Mimicry," Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO

2002       "Sacred/Secular: The Epiphenomenal in Post 'Postclassical' Science," Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, NY

2001       "Nabokov and Anti-Darwinian Evolution" Dactyl Foundation, New York, NY

2001       "Art Versus Science," Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM

2001       "Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect Mimicry," Santa Fe Institute, NM
 

Conferences

2008      "Image Clusters," Soceity for Literature, Science & the Arts, Charlotte, NC

2007      "Poetics or Semiotics," Biosemiotics, Syros Greece

2007      "Message without Sender," Soceity for Literature, Science & the Arts, Portland, ME

2006      "On T. L. Short's Notion of Purpose," C. S. Peirce Conference, Helsinki, Finland

2006      "On T. L. Short's Notion of Purpose," Biosemiotics, Grotigen, The Netherlands

2006      "Evolution: Cultural, Biological, and Cosmic," Soceity for Literature, Science & the Arts, Dactyl Foundation, NY--organizer

2005      "Meaning, Function & Context as Scientific Concepts" Society for Literature, Science,  and the Arts, Chicago, IL

2005     "Henry James' Teleology" Society for the Study of Narrative Literature,  Louisville, KY

2004      "Ecology and Ethics," Society for Literature and Science, Durham, NC

2004      "Phenomenal Patterns: Naratology," PALA, NY, NY

2004      "James's Pragmatic Teleology," Universite de Montreal, Quebec, Canada

2003       "Darwinian Ecologies," Society for Literature and Science, Austin, TX

2003       "The Status of Emergence," roundtable: N. Katherine Hayles, John Johnston, Eve Keller, and Susan Oyama, Society for Literature

              & Science, Austin, TX--organizer

2002       "Nonlinearity and Teleology," Society for Literature and Science, Cal-Tech, Pasadena, CA

2002       "Nabokov and Insect Mimicry," Nabokov Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2002       Agency in Henry James: From Positivism to Probabilism," Society for the Study of Narrative Literature, E Lansing, MI

2001       "Genetic Determinism and Telos," Society for the Study of Narrative Literature, MLA, New Orleans, LA

2001       "Narrative Teleology and Aesthetics," Determinism Workshop, Max Planck Society, Ringberg Castle, Germany

2001       "Nabokov, Evolution, and Aesthetics," American Literature Association, Cambridge, MA

2000       "Narrative Teleology and New Physics, " Central NY Conference on Literature and Language, SUNY Cortland, NY 

2000       "The History of Chaos in Science, Literature, and Art," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY, NY--chair

2000       "Pynchon and Complexity Science," Twentieth-century Literature Conference, Louisville, KY 

1998       "Art and Science," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, New York, NY

1998       "The Interpreters," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, New York, NY--chair

1991        "Writing Across the Curriculum," Writing Centers Association, New York, NY

 

Video Documentaries
2000       "The Look of Love," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY--producer
                                     with artist Alexandra Wiesenfeld
1999       "Don't Let Go," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY--concept development
                                     with artist James Gilroy and filmmaker Larry Clark

Curatorial Projects-Visual Art

2009      Judy Glantzman, "A Thirty-Year Retrospective," Dactyl Foundation, NY

2007      Yelena Yemchuk, "Notes on Fatomas," Dactyl Foundation, NY

2006      Debra Sessel, "Faith," Dactyl Foundation, NY

2004      Yelena Yemchuk, "Sensitive," Dactyl Foundation, NY

2002      Yelena Yemchuk, "Phenomena+Existence No. 1," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY

2002      James Gilroy, "Before and After 9/11," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY

2002      Emily Orling, "Infant Paintings," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY

2000      Alexandra Wiesenfeld, "The Look of Love," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY

1999      James Gilroy, "Information Paintings," Dactyl Foundation for the Arts & Humanities, NY

Professional Affiliations
International Vladimir Nabokov Society, Society for Literature, Science & the Arts, Society for the Study of Narrative Literature, and International Soceity for the Study of Biosemiotics

 

Works-in-Progress

Trixie: a novel, Nabokov's Bugs, Ghosts & Artists, Chaos & Telos: an anthology co-edited with James P. Crutchfield