I write and teach about U.S. poetry, fiction, and film from 1850-present at Manhattanville University.

As a scholar, I research the conceptual implications of literary form and the way that literature responds to cultural struggles, philosophical problems, and historical crises.

As a teacher, I aim to impart the value of slow, scrupulous, sensitive reading and clear, logical, precise writing. My assignments are usually geared towards comparative analysis (between literary styles, historical periods, analytic concepts, or media formats) with the aim of generating an awareness of fine-grained distinctions and persistent continuities over time and space. I approach teaching as a theatrical performance that can model habits of alertness, convey the joys of imaginative discovery, and embody the rewards of sustained reflection. The immediate goal is to speak eloquently and argue convincingly about writers with a genius for the English language; the broader aim is to better read ourselves and the world around us in the past, present, and future.