
Karen Gevirtz, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of English
(973) 275-2176
Email
Fahy Hall
Room 361
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
-
Women, the Novel, and Natural Philosophy, 1660-1727. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
- Gender and Space in British Literature, 1660-1820. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014.
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"Economic Oroonoko.” In Approaches to Teaching Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, New York: Modern Language Association, 100-107, December 2013.
- "Peer Reviewed: Elizabeth Inchbald’s Shakespeare Criticism."
In Shakespeare and the Culture of Romanticism, edited by Joseph M. Ortiz, 31-50. Burlington, VT.: Ashgate, September 2013.
- "Dialogue, Selection, Subversion: Three Approaches to Teaching Women Writers."
Lumen 32 (2013): 127-50, doi: 10.7202/1015488ar, April 2013.
- "Review of Gulliver’s Travels." Eighteenth-Century Studies, 44(4), May 2011.
- "Aphra Behn and the Scientific Self." (book chapter)
In Judy Hayden (ed.), The New Science and Women's Literary Discourse: Prefiguring Frankenstein, Palgrave, March 2011.
- "(De)Constructing Jane: Converting 'Austen' in Recent Film Adaptations."
Persuasions On-Line, 31(1), December 2010.
- Life After Death: Widows and the English Novel, Defoe to Austen. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005.
Accomplishments
Recent awards
- University Research Council summer stipend, Seton Hall University, 2015
- Researcher of the Year, College of Arts and Sciences, Seton Hall University, 2013-2014
- Associate Member, Columbia University Colloquium on Eighteenth-Century Studies, Columbia University
- University Research Council Award, Seton Hall University, 2010
I have presented, chaired panels, and organized sessions at conferences across the United States and abroad, including the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Aphra Behn Society, the Aphra Behn Society of Europe, the Northeast Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, and the Northeast Modern Language Association.
Professional service
- Senior Section Editor, Eighteenth Century, Literature Compass
- President of the Aphra Behn Society for Women in the Arts, 1660-1830
- Editorial Board, ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1660-1830
- Reviewer, Eighteenth-Century Current Bibliography, 2011-present