Gretchen Murphy

Gretchen Murphy is the Sue Goldston Lebermann Endowed Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1999 and maintains an active research and teaching profile in American literature and cultural studies.

Research Interests: Murphy's work spans U.S. literature to 1914, with emphasis on:

• Nationalism, imperialism, and democratic theory
• Intersections of religion, secularity, and gender
• Sentimental/domestic writing and speculative fiction
• Transnational and hemispheric cultural dynamics

Publications: Her scholarship includes three monographs and eleven articles (2003–2024), predominantly analyzing 19th-century American literature through lenses of race, gender, and empire. Recent works explore secularity in New England women writers and postsecular literary theory. Thematically, her oeuvre interrogates U.S. imperialism, racial formation, and democratic contradictions in historical and speculative contexts.

Awards:

• Sue Goldston Lebermann Endowed Professorship