Karen Gevirtz , Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of English
(973) 275-2176
Email
Fahy Hall
Room 352
Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of English
I study how and why literary forms, particularly the novel, evolve. The period in which I specialize, the long eighteenth century (1660-1798), saw the birth of the professional writer, the novel, the newspaper, the magazine and Shakespeare criticism (to name a few innovations) and is therefore a tremendously exciting time for following those questions. Although I focus on the development of the novel as a genre, I also publish on Jane Austen, women writers and non-fictional prose. Currently, I am writing about the intersection of the scientific revolution and the development of point of view in the early novel. In courses such as "The Gothic Novel" and "Jane Austen in Film and Literature," I try to show students not only the most amazing aspects of the period, but also its strong connections with and similarities to our own time.
Education
- Ph.D., Emory University
- M.A., Emory University
- Certificate in Women's Studies, Emory University
Scholarship
-
Representing the Eighteenth Century in Film and Television", 2000-2015. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
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"Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660-1727." New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
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"Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660-1820." Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014.
- "Life After Death: Widows and the English Novel, Defoe to Austen." Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005.
Accomplishments
- Advisory Board, "Women and the Early Novel," database under construction sponsored by the Universidad de Huelva and the government of Spain. 2021-present
- University Research Council Award, 2019
- Fellow, Chawton House Library, Hampshire, England, 2017
- Researcher of the Year, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013-2014