Sharon Marcus teaches at Columbia University, where she is the Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature, specializing in nineteenth-century British and French culture. Her scholarship analyzes the cultural assignment of value in domains as diverse as architecture, social relationships, literary criticism, and performance culture.
Marcus earned her B.A. from Brown University and her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University, both in comparative literature. After teaching for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, she moved to Columbia University in 2003. The recipient of Fulbright, ACLS Burkhardt, and Guggenheim fellowships, among others, Marcus is the author of Apartment Stories: City and Home in Nineteenth-Century Paris and London (University of California Press, 1999); Between Women: Marriage, Desire, and Friendship in Victorian England (Princeton University Press, 2007); and The Drama of Celebrity (Princeton University Press, 2019). Her many articles include a landmark contribution to feminist theory, "Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: Towards a Theory and Practice of Rape Prevention" (1992), and the widely-cited "Surface Reading," co-authored with Stephen Best (2009), which asked provocative questions about how critics interpret texts.
In 2012, Sharon co-founded Public Book, an online magazine dedicated to bringing cutting-edge scholarly ideas to a curious public. With co-editor Caitlin Zaloom, she oversees a Public Book series at Columbia University Press. Her own public writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, Pacific Standard, The Boston Globe, Vox, the Chronicle Review, and the Guardian.
This collection consists of the professional papers of Sharon Marcus, Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and scholar of nineteenth-century British and French culture. The collection includes syllabi, course evaluations, and annotated readings and handwritten and typed notes used to research her books, Between Women and Apartment Stories, and her article, "Comparative Sapphism." Materials date from 1989 to 2016 and are arranged into 2 series.
Series 1, TEACHING, 2002 – 2015, contains syllabi, course evaluations, and assignment prompts. Courses include "Feminist and Queer Theory," "Literature and Politics: 1857 in England and France," "Nineteenth Century Cities and Literature," and "Victorian Bestsellers." This series is arranged alphabetically by course title.
Series 2, WRITINGS AND RELATED, 1989 – 2003, is arranged into 3 subseries.
Series 2, subseries 1, APARTMENT STORIES, circa 1989-1999, includes annotated photocopied readings and handwritten and typed notes related to research for Apartment Stories: City and Home in Nineteenth-Century Paris and London (1999). In this book, Marcus compares the representation of the apartment house in Paris and London. Topics within the collection include architecture, ghosts, cemeteries, and domestic work in England and France. Please note that Marcus has not yet donated any drafts of this book. Marcus' original folders are listed in quotations, all other folder titles were created by the processor. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by record type then by subject.
Series 2, subseries 2, BETWEEN WOMEN, circa 2001 – 2016, includes annotated photocopied readings and handwritten and typed notes related to research for Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England (2007). In this book, Marcus examines literature, memoirs, letters, domestic magazines, and political debates, to reveal how relationships between women were a crucial component of femininity. Topics within the collection include children and children's literature, fashion, and post-Victorian anthropology. Please note that Marcus has not yet donated any drafts of this book. Marcus' original folders are listed in quotations, all other folder titles were created by the processor. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by record type then by subject.
Series 2, subseries 3, COMPARATIVE SAPPHISM, circa 1997 – 2000, includes annotated photocopied readings and handwritten notes related to research for "Comparative Sapphism" (2000). In this article, Marcus considers sexuality in British and French novels. Topics within the collection include Honoré de Balzac, Alphonse Daudet, and the French novel in England. Please note that Marcus has not yet donated any drafts of this article. Marcus' original folders are listed in quotations, all other folder titles were created by the processor. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by record type then by subject.
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the John Hay Library are requested to complete a Notice of Intent to Publish, prior to reproducing, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Sharon Marcus, MS.2020.004, Box [#], Folder [#], Pembroke Center Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University.
This collection is arranged into 2 series.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Gift of Sharon Marcus beginning in 2017.