I'm a PhD in English. My book project focuses on a disturbing archive--nationally-popular proslavery sentimental novels, written mostly in the North. But broadly speaking, my research and teaching focus on the cultural work of the popular novel, especially as it envisions and reenvisions the moral status of "women's" lives. Lately, I've been moving more into public cultural criticism: editing Avidly.org and writing for the LA Review of Books.