Cynthia Davis

Cynthia Davis is a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences. Her work focuses on U.S. literature from the Civil War to World War II, U.S. women writers, gender studies, and intersections between medicine and literature.

• PhD, English Literature, Duke University (1994)
• B.A., English Literature, Middlebury College (1986)

Her research examines how U.S. literary realists addressed pain as a cultural and aesthetic phenomenon, challenging ideals of pain avoidance through works by authors like Henry James, Edith Wharton, and W.E.B. Du Bois. She also explores sentimentalism, controversial women writers, and medical humanities, particularly in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's writings.

Recent publications include a 2023 article on Chopin and Wharton's portrayal of pain, and a 2021 monograph on pain aesthetics in literary realism. Her scholarly output spans biographies, edited volumes, and analyses of contagion metaphors, medical narratives, and gendered literary discourse.

• Fulbright US Scholar Research Award (2023-24)
• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2001-02)
• Provost Humanities Grant (2015-17)
• Medical Humanities Course Development Grant (1998-2000)

As a prolific educator and researcher, Davis has received multiple teaching awards, including the Mortarboard Society Excellence in Teaching Award (2000) and English Department Teacher of the Year (1995-96). She also contributes to editorial projects like the upcoming Edith Wharton: Life Writings (2027) in The Complete Works of Edith Wharton.