Jared Köhn
Subject:
Ibsen Studies
Degree:
Master's
Graduated:
2022
Position:
MFA Student (Fiction)/Instructor in Rhetoric, Composition, and Creative Writing
Employer:
University of Arkansas (uark.edu)
– What are the most important aspects of your job?
Importance is always difficult for me to ascribe. I suspect as I write this that I will not help anyone by emphasizing my modesty here. I teach students how to write. This means that I force a lot of young adults to engage with the world around them with more intentionality and care than is their wont. Every semester for the past three years I have seen people thrash and moan and cry their way through work and every semester I see them grow. Perhaps not all of them will hold onto every topic I have lectured on, but all of them will have written a lot more than they would have without the class. I think that is valuable.
In terms of what aspects of my training are most important to my job I would say that close reading is paramount. Lecturing is fine and solid, leading discussions is wonderful, but being able to closely engage with a student’s work is the foundation of everything that I do. Failing to connect with what a student tries to tell you means that you are, at best, guessing as to what they need from you. A good close reading of a dead writer is foundational for discovering remarkable insights into the work and the culture that springs from that work. A good close reading of a living student means that you can connect with their mind in a way that will (hopefully) follow them for a long time.
– What do you like most about your job?
I think the funniest part of this question is that I was just recently reflecting on love for my work. The life of a graduate instructor out here, teaching two classes and taking three, is often difficult. I find myself pushed to exhaustion and occasionally wonder what drives me forward. But last week I read a poem about a student’s relationship with their sister, and I teared up trying to discuss it in the classroom. There is so much passion, love, and creativity in the work that my students create, and I always find myself returning with the hope that my encouragement and instruction will push them to be the best writers that they can be. I love ideas and language with all my heart, and sharing that with others seems like a good use of my energy.
– In what ways are the studies that you have undertaken at the Centre for Ibsen Studies/Faculty of Humanities relevant to your job?
I am primarily still a student, finishing up an MFA in Fiction and writing all of the time. So it is perhaps unsurprising to say that my passion for research, theoretical approaches to literature, and aesthetics remain forefront in my thoughts. I think of Ibsen often, especially when considering my characters, and I have retained many of the lessons I have learned from the Center for Ibsen Studies and deployed them in my scholarship. I imagine if I pursue a PhD, this will be even more true regarding my scholarship and interest in Scandinavian Literature.
As an instructor, I find that many of the skills I developed in class discussions have helped me the most. It was always so exciting to see how people read and approached different questions in class and I felt like many of our instructors proved to be brilliant at demonstrating care and interest in an opinion while still being able to challenge them. Cristina Gómez Baggethun in our Ibsen Reading Club was especially skilled at this, creating an atmosphere of joy, curiosity, and challenging questions that made me think rather deeply about the positions we held. I also learned a lot about how intellectual rigor and care are never mutually exclusive. My thesis advisor, Ellen Rees, always pushed me to be more creative, more inventive, more bizarre even as I was mired in intellectual traps of self-censorship and anxiousness. She saw something in my tendency to push and ignited my joyous exploration of ideas through sheer depth of care and attentiveness to my work. I hope to emulate both of their approaches in my teaching, and think of them often.
– What is the best tip for students who are thinking about job opportunities after graduation?
If you find yourself thinking that you have no employable skills, you are thinking in the wrong direction. The work of a writer and a critic is foundational to many different opportunities and many, many people have not thought about any work as critically as you have thought about Ibsen. It helps nobody to be a defeatist, and it helps even less to downplay or not engage with your accomplishments. To hold this degree means you have done something remarkable, and I strongly encourage you to hold that truth with pride. Further, don’t narrow your search overmuch. A lot of scholars and writers wind up missing several opportunities because they will accept one or two positions in a very crowded space. Your skills are valuable and rare, make that known.
– What is your favorite Ibsen work and why?
When We Dead Awaken (1899)! One hundred times over. I share the text’s preoccupation with death and reflection; I love how Ibsen is able to portray his characters as deeply human while also ghastly silhouettes of themselves. I love that the metaphorical valences wrap into the personal and make the whole play a haunting spiral into the self. I love many of Ibsen’s plays, but his last will occupy my mind and manifest in my writing for the rest of my life.