Mark Greif
Associate Professor of English and, by courtesy, of Comparative Literature
Bio
Mark Greif’s scholarly work looks at the connections of literature to intellectual and cultural history, the popular arts, aesthetics and everyday ethics. He taught at the New School and Brown before coming to Stanford.
He is the author of The Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933-1973 (Princeton, 2015), which received the Morris D. Forkosch Prize from the Journal of the History of Ideas, and the Susanne M. Glasscock Prize for interdisciplinary humanities scholarship. His book Against Everything: Essays (Pantheon, 2016) was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award in Criticism. His current book concerns the history and aesthetics of pornography from the eighteenth century to the internet age.
In 2003, Greif was a founder of the journal n+1, and has been a principal member of the organization since. His books as co-editor and co-author have included The Trouble is the Banks: Letters to Wall Street (n+1/FSG, 2012), Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America (Verso, 2011), and What Was the Hipster?: A Sociological Investigation (n+1/HarperCollins, 2010). His books and articles have been translated into German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
He has been a Marshall Scholar, and has received fellowships from the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He is a member of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU.
Greif has written for publications including the London Review of Books, New York Times, Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Le Monde, and his essays have been selected for Best American Essays and the Norton Anthology. He remains interested in the relationships between high scholarship, literary and arts journalism, low culture, and small magazines.
Academic Appointments
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Associate Professor, English
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Associate Professor (By courtesy), Comparative Literature
Program Affiliations
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Philosophy and Literature
Professional Education
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Ph.D., Yale, American Studies (2007)
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M.Phil., Oxford, Modern British Literature (1999)
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B.A., summa cum laude, Harvard, History and Literature (1997)
2024-25 Courses
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Independent Studies (7)
- Graduate Independent Study
MTL 398 (Win, Spr) - Individual Work
ENGLISH 198 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Qualifying Paper
MTL 390 (Win, Spr) - Reading for Orals
MTL 399 (Win, Spr) - Research Course
ENGLISH 398 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Revision and Development of a Paper
ENGLISH 398R (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum) - Thesis
ENGLISH 399 (Aut, Win, Spr, Sum)
- Graduate Independent Study
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- Aesthetics and the Audience: Literary Landmarks
ENGLISH 105A (Win) - Contemporary Novel in U.S. Perspective
AMSTUD 177, ENGLISH 177 (Spr) - Culture and Subculture
ENGLISH 343 (Aut) - Poetry: Wordsworth, Dickinson, Rilke
ENGLISH 20N (Aut)
2022-23 Courses
- Contemporary Novel in U.S. Perspective
AMSTUD 177, ENGLISH 177 (Spr) - Henry James
ENGLISH 239 (Win) - The Civilizing Process
ENGLISH 308 (Aut)
2021-22 Courses
- Aesthetics and the Audience: Literary Landmarks
ENGLISH 105A (Spr) - Aesthetics: Reception Theory, Audiences, and Literature as Media
ENGLISH 305A (Aut) - Contemporary Novel in U.S. Perspective
AMSTUD 177, ENGLISH 177 (Win)
- Aesthetics and the Audience: Literary Landmarks
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Jonathan Atkins, Caroline Bailey, Corey Dansereau, Tong Liu, Andrew Touma -
Doctoral Dissertation Co-Advisor (AC)
Ben Libman, Vesta Pitts -
Master's Program Advisor
Matteo Perper -
Doctoral (Program)
Vesta Pitts
All Publications
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THE LIFE OF SAUL BELLOW Love and Strife, 1965-2005 (Book Review)
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
2018; 123 (49): 22
View details for Web of Science ID 000451791800017
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Introduction: Cons and Scams in American Culture
SOCIAL RESEARCH
2018; 85 (4): 695–97
View details for Web of Science ID 000458021500002
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AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY A Love Story (Book Review)
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
2016; 121 (45): 11
View details for Web of Science ID 000386545100013
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Age of the Crisis of Man: Thought and Fiction in America, 1933-1973
AGE OF THE CRISIS OF MAN: THOUGHT AND FICTION IN AMERICA, 1933-1973
2015: 1–434
View details for DOI 10.1515/9781400852109
View details for Web of Science ID 000355755500013