Heeyeon Kim

Thesis title: Ambivalent Sincerity: Navigating Conflicting Allegiances in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Criticism (1930-1970)

Supervisor: Patrick Hayes

Doctoral Research: My DPhil thesis examines the role of sincerity in the literary and intellectual cultures of the Cold War. Bringing together thinkers such as Alain Locke, Lionel Trilling, Isaiah Berlin, Richard E. Kim, and James Baldwin, the project shows how writers navigating divided cultural and political allegiances used sincerity to probe questions of identity, belonging, and civic responsibility. 

Research Interests: Twentieth-century American novel, literature and philosophy, world literature, aesthetics

Publications:

"Alain Locke's Value Theory and Pragmatist Defense of Beauty." Arizona Quarterly: A Journal of American Literature, Culture, and Theory 80.3 (2024).

"Confessions of a Rebel: Richard E. Kim's Reading of Albert Camus." The New Centennial Review 24.1 (2024).