PhD Student

American Literary Studies

Research Area

Post-1945 US Literature, War Literature, and Trauma Theory

Contact Information

Email: katelynthompson@unm.edu

Biography

Katelyn Flynn graduated with her BA in English (2018) and her MA in Liberal Arts (2020) from Louisiana State University in Shreveport. She is interested in using the theoretical lens of trauma to relate the anxiety of postwar US literature, primarily as a result of the use of the atomic bomb, to the sexualization of martial culture in 21st-century media and literature. 

In this vein, her master’s thesis, “From Fear to Celebration: The Evolution of Post-Apocalyptic Literature in the United States, 1945–2008,” explored the social and critical pressures that influenced the development of post-apocalyptic media (both literature and video games) during the Cold War and post-9/11 periods. Primarily, she examined how these texts responded to militarism and war propaganda during each respective era. 

As a student in UNM’s American Literary Studies PhD program, Katelyn hopes to continue to develop a nuanced understanding of the relationship between the literature of trauma and warfare, and its connections to post-9/11 culture.