David Brauner

Professor David Brauner is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of Reading’s Department of English Literature, part of the School of Humanities. His research focuses on contemporary American fiction, twentieth-century Jewish literature, graphic novels, and representations of ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. He has authored four books, including Howard Jacobson (2020) and Contemporary American Fiction (2010), and co-edited The Edinburgh Companion to Modern Jewish Fiction, which won the 2016 Judaica Reference Award. He supervises PhD projects on graphic novels and contemporary British Muslim women’s fiction, and has examined over 20 doctoral theses. Brauner serves on editorial boards for journals like Philip Roth Studies and European Journal of American Culture. His recent work explores authenticity in post-war American culture and intersections of ethnicity in modern literature.

Key publications include analyses of Philip Roth, Lorrie Moore, and Jewish-American identity in works like Kalooki Nights. His teaching spans modules on American graphic novels, modern American culture, and contemporary fiction’s engagement with ethnicity. Brauner’s interdisciplinary approach bridges literary analysis with cultural critique, addressing themes like confessional writing, historical reimagining, and the interplay between art and narrative.