I focus on the 19th- and 20th centuries, mostly the novel. My current work takes up a wide range of perspectives—linguistic, formal, cognitive and somatic—on comedy and laughter. I have also undertaken projects on the intersections of zoology and literary form, largely through an examination of the history of European zoological gardens and the writers and artists who visited them.
In addition to my academic undertakings, I work as a freelance writer. My work has appeared in the Believer, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Threepenny Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books and Modern Fiction Studies. My short fiction has been recognized by Glimmertrain Stories. My first essays for Triple Canopy and n+1 are forthcoming later this year.
I hold a MA in English and a BA in Creative Writing with Honors in Interdisciplinary Studies from Stanford, where I completed a thesis on the founding and early history of the writers' organization International PEN.
This site is very much in progress, but please feel free to email me.
