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

Siarhei Biareishyk

Senior Lecturer biar@sas.upenn.eduWebsite

Fields of Study: Philosophical Texts & Intellectual History, Scientific Texts and Ideas, Central Europe, Eastern Europe / Russia, Western Europe, C20, including Modernism, Long Eighteenth Century, Film theory, Formalism/ Structuralism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Sociology of Literature

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 (On Leave, 2025-2026) 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, 2026 kazanjia@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