Bio


Mark Algee-Hewitt’s research combines literary criticism with digital and quantitative analyses of literature and other textual corpora. Although his work primarily focuses on the development and transmission of aesthetic and philosophic concepts during the long eighteenth-century in both Britain and Germany, his research interests also include other literary forms, such as poetry and the Gothic novel, and broadly reach from the eighteenth-century to contemporary literary practice. As director of the Stanford Literary Lab, he has led projects on a variety of topics, including the use of extra-disciplinary discourse in novels, the narratological theory of the short story, and science-fiction world building. In addition to these literary projects, he has also worked in collaboration with the OECD's Working Group on Bribery to explore the effectiveness of public writing as an enforcement strategy, with the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the history of American celebrity in newspapers, and with faculty in the school of law at Columbia University on court decisions regarding environmental policy.

Academic Appointments


  • Associate Professor, English

Administrative Appointments


  • Director of Graduate Studies, Department of English, Stanford University (2019 - Present)
  • Interdisciplinary English Concentration Faculty Advisor, Department of English (2017 - 2019)
  • Director of the Stanford Literary Lab, Department of English, Stanford University (2015 - Present)

Honors & Awards


  • International Research Exploration Seed Grant, Stanford University Vice Provost and Dean of Research (2023-2024)
  • Public Knowledge Grant, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2023-2024)
  • Arnold L. Graves and Lois S. Graves Award in the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies and Pomona College (2020)
  • Dean of Humanities and Sciences Award for Outstanding Teaching as a Junior Professor, Stanford University (2018)
  • Annenberg Faculty Fellowship for Outstanding Research, Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences (2015-2017)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Faculty Advisory Board, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, Stanford University (2019 - Present)
  • Committee Member, Committee on Academic Computing and Information Systems, Stanford University (2019 - 2020)
  • Chair's Advisory Committee, Department of English, Stanford University (2018 - Present)
  • Chair, Zampolli Prize Committee, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) (2016 - Present)
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Cultural Analytics (2016 - Present)
  • Executive Board Member, 18th Connect (2015 - 2018)
  • International Executive Board Member, CenterNET (2013 - 2015)

Program Affiliations


  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education


  • BA, Mount Allison University, English (Honors) / Computer Science (2000)
  • MA, Western University, English Literature / Theory and Criticism (2002)
  • PhD, New York University, English and American Literature (2008)

2023-24 Courses


Stanford Advisees


All Publications


  • Computing Criticism: Humanities Concepts and Digital Methods Debates in DH: Computational Criticism Algee-Hewitt, M. 2021
  • Representing Race and Ethnicity in American Fiction: 1789-1920 Journal of Cultural Analytics Algee-Hewitt, M., Porter, J., Walser, H. 2020
  • The Principals of Meaning: Networks of Knowledge in Johnson’s Dictionary Networks of European Enlightenment Algee-hewitt, M. Oxford University Press. 2019
  • The Novel as Data Cambridge Companion to the Novel Algee-Hewitt, M., Fredner, E., Walser, H. Cambridge University Press. 2018
  • The Long Arc of History: Neural Network Approaches to Diachronic Language Change Journal of the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities Jo, E., Algee-Hewitt, M. 2018; 3 (1): 1-32
  • Distributed Character: Quantitative Models of the English Stage New Literary History Algee-Hewitt, M. 2017; 48 (4): 251-282
  • Villainous or valiant? Depictions of oil and coal in American fiction and nonfiction narratives Energy Research & Social Science Grubert, E., Algee-Hewitt, M. 2017; 31: 100-110
  • Dialogism in the novel: A computational model of the dialogic nature of narration and quotations Digital Scholarship in the Humanities Muzny, F., Algee-Hewitt, M., Jurafsky, D. 2017; 32 (2): 31-52
  • Canon/Archive. Large Scale Dynamics in the Literary Field Algee-Hewitt, M., Allison, S., Gemma, M., Heuser, R., Moretti, F., Walser, H. Stanford Literary Lab. 2016 ; Literary Lab Pamphlet Series (11):
  • Mapping the Emotions of London in Fiction: 1700-1900: A Crowdsourcing Experiment Literary Mapping in the Digital Age Heuser, R., Algee-Hewitt, M., Lockhart, A., Tran, V. Routledge. 2016: 25–47
  • Criticism and the Sublime Encyclopedia of British Literature 1660-1789 Algee-Hewitt, M. Blackwell Publishing. 2015
  • Between Canon and Corpus: Six Perspectives on 20th-Century Novels Algee-Hewitt, M., McGurl, M. Stanford Literary Lab. 2015 ; Literary Lab Pamphlet Series
  • On Paragraphs. Scale, Theme and Narrative Form Algee-Hewitt, M., Heuser, R., Moretti, F. Stanford Literary Lab. 2015 ; Literary Lab Pamphlet Series
  • The Werther Effect I: Goethe Topologically Distant Reading/Descriptive Turns: Topologies of German Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century Piper, A., Algee-Hewitt, M. Camden House. 2014: 155–184
  • Aesthetics as Action: Publishing as Recursive Agency in the Long Eighteenth Century Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net Algee-Hewitt, M. 2010; 58: 1-21
  • [Re]zoning the Naïve: Schiller’s Construction of Autohistoriography European Romantic Review Algee-Hewitt, M. 2003; 14 (2): 197-203