Nicholas Dames

Nicholas Dames is the Theodore Kahan Professor of Humanities in Columbia University's Department of English and Comparative Literature. He holds a B.A. from Washington University (1992) and a Ph.D. from Harvard University (1998). His research examines the novel's historical development, focusing on temporality in fiction, reading practices, and political/aesthetic dimensions of realism from the 19th century to contemporary works.

Dames explores interdisciplinary connections between literature, cognitive science, and editorial history, with emphasis on how narrative structures shape human experience. His scholarship reveals how formal elements like chapters mediate readers' temporal perception across literary epochs.

Honors include the PROSE Award and National Book Critics Circle finalist status for The Chapter (2023), Sonya Rudikoff Prize for Amnesiac Selves, and multiple teaching awards: Columbia's Presidential Teaching Award (2005), Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award (2008), and Mark Van Doren Award (2013).

As co-Editor-in-Chief of Public Books since 2020, he hosts the 'The Novel Now' podcast and contributes criticism to The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and New York Times Book Review. He co-edits Columbia University Press's 'Rereadings' series and previously chaired the Department of English (2011-2014) and MLA's Prose Fiction Division (2009).