معرفی
Elif Armbruster, PhD, is Professor of English in the College of Arts & Sciences at Suffolk University, Boston, where she teaches undergraduate and honors courses in American literature, women’s writing, and literary studies. A specialist in American realism (1870-1920) and women’s literary activism, she is the author of the monograph Domestic Biographies: Stowe, Howells, James, and Wharton at Home (Peter Lang, 2011) and editor or contributor to numerous scholarly volumes and classroom editions.
Education
- PhD, American Studies, Boston University
- MA, American and New England Studies, University of Southern Maine
- BA, English and French, Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges
Research Interests
Armbruster’s scholarship interrogates the intersections of domestic space, gender, and authorship in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American literature. Her work on literary activism examines how women writers such as Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stowe deployed realism to intervene in social debates on race, labor, and reform. She also explores material culture—houses, objects, and built environments—as narrative devices that illuminate character psychology and national identity. A second vein of research focuses on life writing, particularly autobiography and biography, to recover marginalized women’s voices and re-map the American literary canon.
Publications & Current Projects
Across essays appearing in Edith Wharton Review, Journal of International Women’s Studies, Legacy, and several edited collections, Armbruster has advanced new readings of canonical and understudied women authors. She is presently completing a monograph entitled Sisters by Design: The Intertwined Lives of Edith Wharton, Minnie Jones, and Beatrix Farrand, which traces the collaborative networks of female creativity in the Gilded Age. Recent and forthcoming articles (2023-2026) extend her archival research into post-Civil War Florida, #MeToo memoir pedagogy, and global receptions of Wharton’s letters.
Teaching & Mentorship
At Suffolk she offers courses ranging from introductory surveys (American Literature I & II; World Literature in English) to advanced seminars (Women Writing the American West; Honor Rebel Girls and Nasty Women) and the senior honors thesis. She invites students to interrogate nation, gender, and genre through interdisciplinary lenses that incorporate material culture, digital archives, and community-engaged learning.
Contact
Office: 73 Tremont St., Room 8050, Boston, MA 02108
Email: earmbruster@suffolk.edu
Phone: 617-994-6437
Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 10:00–11:00 a.m. (in-person or Zoom by appointment)
