Emily Wittman

Emily Wittman is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Alabama, specializing in comparative literature with a focus on international modernism, translation studies, and self-writing traditions. She directs the World Literature minor and has received multiple university-wide awards, including the 2024 President’s Research Award and the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award.

• Education: PhD in Comparative Literature from Princeton University, BA in Philosophy (Magna Cum Laude) from Yale University

Her research interrogates authenticity in interwar travel writing (1918-1939), analyzing how Anglophone and French writers like Hemingway, Greene, and Waugh constructed cultural authority through colonial gazes and rhetorical strategies. She also explores contemporary self-writing’s departure from linear "autobiographical pact" toward cyclical midlife narratives.

Recent publications include Translation and Modernism: The Art of Co-Creation (2023) and The New Midlife Self-Writing (2021), which redefines midlife as a space for continual growth. Her work bridges academic and creative writing, evidenced by collaborations with MFA students and leadership in graduate courses blending literature and pedagogy.

• Scientific Awards:
  • Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award (University of Alabama)
  • President’s Research Award (2024)

She co-edits Modernism and Autobiography (2014) with Maria DiBattista and contributes to debates on translation ethics in comparative studies. Current projects include expanding her research on self-writing from antiquity to the present, with emphasis on marginalized voices and interdisciplinary frameworks.