Jean-Christophe Cloutier

Jean-Christophe Cloutier is an Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts & Sciences. His research focuses on 20th-century American literature, African American studies, and the intersections of literature with visual culture, comics, and archival practices. Cloutier holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and previously worked as an archivist in their Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

• Education: Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature (Columbia University), M.A. (SUNY Buffalo), B.A. (Concordia University, Montréal)

He is renowned for his work on Jack Kerouac’s French-language manuscripts, including La vie est d’hommage and Sur le Chemin, which reframe Kerouac’s bilingual identity. His book Shadow Archives (2019) won multiple awards, examining archival dynamics in African American literary history. Cloutier also co-edited Amiable with Big Teeth (2017), a previously unknown novel by Claude McKay.

His teaching emphasizes comics studies and archival methodologies, including co-teaching Making Comics with cartoonist Rob Berry. Recent projects include re-examining posthumous literary publications and Kerouac’s Franco-American heritage in Big American Writer.

• Awards: MLA Matei Calinescu Prize (2019), MSA First Book Prize (2019), Waldo Gifford Leland Award (2020)