Formalism/ Structuralism

Julia Alekseyeava

Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies jaleksey@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: C21/ Contemporary, C20, including Modernism, East Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe / Russia, US, Diaspora, Film, Life Writing, Auto/biography, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Formalism/ Structuralism, Film theory, Marxism, Media Studies, Art/ Media

S. Pearl Brilmyer

Assistant Professor of English brilmyer@upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Novel, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Scientific Texts and Ideas, Africa & the Caribbean, Britain, Western Europe, C19, C20, including Modernism, Deconstruction, Ecocriticism/ Ecology, Formalism/ Structuralism, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Psychoanalysis, Race and Empire, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics

David Kazanjian

Professor of English and Comparative Literature Graduate Chair, Program in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory; Research Resident, Vartan Gregorian Center for Research in the Humanities, New York Public Library, 2025; Visiting Scholar, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 2026kazanjia@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Historiography and Historical Writing, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Africa & the Caribbean, Diaspora, Latin America, Middle East/North Africa, US, C19, Long Eighteenth Century, Deconstruction, Formalism/ Structuralism, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Marxism, Post-colonial, Psychoanalysis, Race and Empire, Rhetoric, Hermeneutics, Trauma

Benjamin Nathans

Associate Professor of History bnathans@history.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Historiography and Historical Writing, Life Writing, Auto/biography, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Eastern Europe / Russia, Jewish Studies, C19, C20, including Modernism, Formalism/ Structuralism, Marxism, Museum/Object Studies

Kevin Platt

Professor of Russian and East European Studies kmfplatt@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Film, Historiography and Historical Writing, Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Poetry/ Poetics, Central Europe, Diaspora, Eastern Europe / Russia, World Literature, C19, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Digital Humanities, Film theory, Formalism/ Structuralism, Marxism, Post-colonial, Psychoanalysis, Sociology of Literature, Spatial Theory, Translation, Trauma

Gerald Prince

Professor of French and Francophone Studies gprince@babel.ling.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Novel, Short Story, Western Europe, C19, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Formalism/ Structuralism, Narratology

Fatemeh Shams

Associate Professor of Persian Literature fshams@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Art/ Media, Film, Historiography and Historical Writing, Life Writing, Auto/biography, Novel, Poetry/ Poetics, Pre-Modern Genres and Literary Forms, Short Story, Diaspora, Middle East/North Africa, Near East, World Literature, C20, including Modernism, C21/ Contemporary, Medieval (C6-C14 C.E), Deconstruction, Formalism/ Structuralism, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Marxism, Narratology, Sociology of Literature, Spatial Theory, Translation, Trauma

Emily Steinlight

Associate Professor of English emily.steinlight@english.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Novel, Scientific Texts and Ideas, Britain, Western Europe, C19, C20, including Modernism, Formalism/ Structuralism, Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, Queer Theory, Trans Theory, Marxism