Karen Emmerich

Karen Emmerich serves as Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, specializing in modern Greek literature, translation theory, and citizenship studies within the literary canon. Her academic trajectory includes prior faculty positions at the University of Cyprus (2011-2012) and University of Oregon (2012-2014), following Princeton undergraduate studies (1996-2000) and a postdoctoral fellowship (2010-2011).

Her research examines translation as iterative growth that constructs literary originals, evidenced in her monograph Literary Translation and the Making of Originals (Bloomsbury, 2017). Current work investigates Greek citizenship and canon formation through inclusion/exclusion dynamics in Greek Literature on Shifting Ground: Nationalism, Migration, and Belonging in the Modern Greek Literary Canon. She also publishes on visual poetics of Cavafy, Sachtouris, and Vakalo.

Professor Emmerich's translation accolades include:

• PEN translation awards
• National Endowment for the Arts grants
• Modern Greek Studies Association recognition
• Best Translated Book Award for works like Good Will Come From the Sea (2019)

She actively teaches courses including Practicing Translation and What Is (Modern) Greek Literature?, translating major Greek authors such as Ikonomou, Sotiropoulos, and Karapanou while maintaining scholarly focus on textual instability and migration narratives.