معرفی
Rita Felski is the William R Kenan, Jr. Professor and John Stewart Bryan Professor in the Department of English at the University of Virginia, where she also serves as Editor of New Literary History. Her distinguished career spans literary theory, feminist criticism, and aesthetics, with significant contributions to the postcritique movement that challenges traditional hermeneutics of suspicion in humanities scholarship.
Her educational background includes a B.A. from Cambridge University (1979), M.A. (1982), and Ph.D. (1987) from Monash University. Felski's research centers on affective and descriptive approaches to literature, exploring how attachment to art shapes human experience. Key works include The Gender of Modernity (1995), Uses of Literature (2008), The Limits of Critique (2015), and Hooked: Art and Attachment (2020), which examine everyday aesthetics, feminist theory, and alternative reading practices beyond critique.
Recent publications (2020-2024) reveal sustained engagement with Bruno Latour's actor-network theory, resonance sociology, and class recognition, demonstrating her interdisciplinary approach that bridges literary studies with social theory. Her work consistently reimagines interpretive methodologies while analyzing emotional responses to art across diverse cultural forms.
Among her notable scientific awards are a Guggenheim Fellowship (2010), an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southern Denmark (2017), and the William Parker Riley Prize for best article in PMLA. She has held prestigious visiting professorships at institutions including Free University Berlin (2015) and McMaster University (2005).
Felski's research has been supported by significant grants including an Australian Research Council Major Grant (1993) and fellowships from Cornell University's Society for the Humanities (1989-1990). As Editor of New Literary History, she has curated influential special issues on topics ranging from "Song" (2015) to "Recomposing the Humanities—with Bruno Latour" (2016), shaping contemporary discourse in literary studies.
