Discipline n. v. is a lyric memoir that fuses poetry and academic theory, speaking to the metaphorical power of humanities scholarship. Throughout, Concetta Principe articulates the ‘discipline’ involved in earning a PhD while dealing with a mood disorder, opening up about prejudices that serve as barriers to academic success, the apotheosis being tenure. Embracing the Nachträglichkeit of the traumatic experience of being an old(er) female PhD candidate, Discipline n. v. is ultimately a story of lack and its transformative powers: the student becomes an academic as colonial humanities struggles through its extinction.

concetta principe writes poetry and fiction, and has published three previous works including walking (2013), Interference (1999) and Stained Glass (1997). She received a PhD in Humanities in 2014; a scholarly work came out with Palgrave Macmillan in 2015. She is a sessional professor of literature / creative writing at York and Trent Universities, and lives in Toronto. She has published in online journals such as Lemon Hound and The Rusty Toque, and in print journals such as The Malahat Review, Grain, and Matrix.

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