Klapper Hall, Room 733
718-997-4676
[email protected]
Research Interests
I work on fairy tales and their use in contemporary texts. My current project, on Jewish representation in the English-language fairy-tale tradition, traces Jewish presences in fairy tales from the late nineteenth century to the present day. My first book, Fairy Tales, Myth and Psychoanalysis: Feminism and Retelling the Tale, which came out from Ashgate Press in 2014, is on the relationship between the feminist revisions of fairy tales and classical myths that boomed in the 1970s-1990s and the feminist psychoanalytic theory contemporary with those revisions. I also write fantasy/speculative fiction. My second book, Burning Girls and Other Stories, came out from Tordotcom in 2021. My novella “Burning Girls” was a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and won the Shirley Jackson Award.
Educational Background
PhD, University of Pennsylvania – English
MA, University of Pennsylvania – English
BA, Barnard College, Columbia University – Sociology
Teaching Interests
I am particularly interested in fairy tales, myths, legends, children’s literature, women’s writing, and fantastic literature. I value careful consideration of historical context when discussing literature as well as a consideration of the power dynamics involved in its creation, such as a consideration of the dynamic between adult and child when discussing children’s literature. I am familiar with feminist psychoanalytic theory, and am particularly interested in stories that are repeated and reworked over time. I value close examination of the way the language of a text makes various meanings, and am particularly interested in making connections among texts.
Awards & Fellowships
2025-2026: Research Enhancement Grant, Queens College Foundation
2025-2026: Faculty fellow, Jewish Studies Working Group, CUNY Graduate Center
Summer 2022: RF-CUNY 53 Research Award
Selected Publications
Books
Burning Girls and Other Stories. New York: Tordotcom, 2021.
Fairy Tales, Classical Myth, and Psychoanalytic Theory: Feminism and Retelling the Tale. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014.
Academic essays
“Carterian Wine in New Bottles: An Interview with Four Women Writers.” Angela Carter’s Futures: Representations, Adaptations and Legacies. Eds. Sarah Gamble and Anna Watz. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025. 183-208. (with Intan Paramaditha, Sofia Samatar, Marina Warner and Cristina Bacchilega as interviewer.)
“The Problem with Justice.” Just Wonder: Shifting Perspectives in Tradition. eds. Pauline Greenhill and Jennifer Orme. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2024. 59-68.
“The Redacted Jew: Jew as Villain in The Blue Fairy Book.” Journal of Folklore Research, vol. 59 no. 3, 2022, p. 143-163.
“The Problem with Justice.” Fairy-Tale Justice in Old & New Media: Transforming Wonder. eds. Pauline Greenhill and Jennifer Orme. Forthcoming.
“Thorns into Gold: Contemporary Jewish American Responses to Antisemitism in Traditional Fairy Tales.” Journal of American Folklore. Summer 2019 (132.525): 291-309.
“Fairy-Tale Cultures and Media and Psychology.” Routledge Companion to Fairy Tale Cultures and Media. Eds. Pauline Greenhill, Jill Terry Rudy, and Naomi Hamer. New York: Routledge, 2018. 40-46.
Fiction/Creative Work
“Cristina Bacchilega Interviews Intan Paramaditha, Sofia Samatar, Veronica Schanoes, Marina Warner.” Angela Carter’s Futures: Representations, Adaptations and Legacies. Bloomsbury Press. Forthcoming.
“Stories Based on Jewish Folklore and Magic.” Electric Literature. April 27, 2021.
“Among the Thorns.” Inviting Interruptions: Wonder Tales in the 21st Century. Eds. Cristina Bacchilega and Jennifer Orme. Wayne State University Press. 2021. (reprint)
“Being Jewish, Being White?” The WisCon Chronicles Vol. 11: Trials by Whiteness. Ed. Jaymee Goh. Aqueduct Press.
