Margaret Jay Jessee

I teach courses on composition, American literature, and gender studies. I recently taught a seminar on Edith Wharton, a women’s literature and theory course, and a course on American literary realism. My courses encourage dynamic class discussions about important current and historical social issues along with close textual analysis of literature.

My specific area of research is late-19th and early 20th-century American literature. My scholarship focuses on issues of gender and form in the novel, and I have a particular interest in representations of science and medicine in American literature. I serve as the secretary of the Edith Wharton Society, and I am currently editing The Valley of Decision for the Complete Works of Edith Wharton, forthcoming with Oxford University Press.