He received his BA from Amherst College and his phD from Princeton. His first book, Reading as Therapy: What Contemporary Fiction Does for Middle-Class Americans (2011), explores the various therapeutic and practical purposes that contemporary American fiction serves for its readers. He is presently working on a new book project focused on the role of aesthetic judgment in contemporary academic scholarship. His articles have appeared in PMLA, Modern Fiction Studies, Contemporary Literature, N+1, The Point, Paper Monument, and The Millions. At Baruch, he teaches courses in American literature, the modern novel, and world literature. Home