Sarah Raff

Sarah Raff is Associate Professor of English at Pomona College, where she has been teaching since 2002. Her academic work sits at the intersection of literature, law, and psychoanalytic theory, with a focus on 18th- and 19th-century British fiction. She is particularly known for her scholarship on Jane Austen and the didactic and affective dimensions of narrative.

• Ph.D., Yale University
• B.A., Yale University

Her research explores how authors anticipate and shape reader responses, especially through models of guardianship and instruction. She investigates how narrative authority functions as a form of legal or emotional guardianship over readers. Her work spans psychoanalytic theory, gender studies, and legal history, particularly in relation to fictional wardship and authorship.

The themes in her publications reveal a consistent focus on the ethics and erotics of reading, the psychological dynamics of narrative persuasion, and the legal metaphors underpinning author-reader relationships. Her recent essays and book examine how literary texts model forms of influence, responsibility, and emotional obligation.

Her research has been supported by grants from the Lewis Walpole Library and the Huntington Library, reflecting the historical depth and archival rigor of her scholarship.

Sarah Raff teaches courses such as Dickens and the Role of the Author, Jane Austen, British Novel I: Defoe to Austen, and Legal Guardianship and the Novel. She is on leave during Spring 2025, indicating her ongoing active status in the department.