# Jonathan Arac

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American literary scholar

**Jonathan Arac** is an American literary scholar. He is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Literature at the [University of Pittsburgh](/source/University_of_Pittsburgh),[1] and was previously a visiting professor at [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University) from 2001 to 2006[2] and director of the University of Pittsburgh's Humanities Center from 2008 to 2019.[3][4] He has also been on the editorial board of the literary journal *[Boundary 2](/source/Boundary_2)* since 1979.[5][6]

## Selected works

- [*Commissioned spirits: the shaping of social motion in Dickens, Carlyle, Melville, and Hawthorne*](http://archive.org/details/commissionedspir0000arac). New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. 1979. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8135-0874-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8135-0874-0).

- [*Critical genealogies: historical situations for postmodern literary studies*](http://archive.org/details/criticalgenealog00jona). New York: Columbia University Press. 1987. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-231-06254-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-231-06254-1).

- [*Huckleberry Finn as idol and target: the functions of criticism in our time*](http://archive.org/details/huckleberryfinna0000arac). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1997. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-299-15530-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-299-15530-8).[7]

- *The emergence of American literary narrative, 1820-1860*. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press. 2005. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-674-01869-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-674-01869-3).[8]

- [*Impure worlds: the institution of literature in the age of the novel*](http://archive.org/details/impureworldsinst0000arac). New York: Fordham University Press. 2011. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8232-3178-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8232-3178-2).[9]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Jonathan Arac"](https://www.literature.pitt.edu/jonathan-arac). *Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Literature Program*. Retrieved May 28, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Faculty Profiles"](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/english/fac_profiles.htm#ja2007). *Columbia University in the City of New York*. Retrieved May 28, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** White, Patricia Lomando (January 19, 2010). ["Pitt's New Humanities Center To Foster Collaborative Work"](http://web.archive.org/web/20120601151558/http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/?p=4530). *Pitt Chronicle*. Archived from [the original](http://www.chronicle.pitt.edu/?p=4530) on June 1, 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Contributors"](https://read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/article-abstract/51/1/251/385416/Contributors). *boundary 2*. **51** (1): 251–253. February 1, 2024. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1215/01903659-10892700](https://doi.org/10.1215%2F01903659-10892700). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0190-3659](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0190-3659). [Archived](http://web.archive.org/web/20240709162607/https://read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/article-abstract/51/1/251/385416/Contributors) from the original on July 9, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["About"](https://www.boundary2.org/about/). *b2o*. Retrieved May 28, 2026.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Fest, Bradley J. (May 1, 2016). ["An Interview with Jonathan Arac"](https://read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/article-abstract/43/2/27/56145/An-Interview-with-Jonathan-Arac). *boundary 2*. **43** (2): 27–57. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1215/01903659-3469898](https://doi.org/10.1215%2F01903659-3469898). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0190-3659](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0190-3659). [Archived](http://web.archive.org/web/20250207014241/https://read.dukeupress.edu/boundary-2/article-abstract/43/2/27/56145/An-Interview-with-Jonathan-Arac) from the original on February 7, 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Moody, Joycelyn K. (September 1999). ["'*Huckleberry Finn' as Idol and Target: The Functions of Criticism in Our Time* by Jonathan Arac (review)"](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/886695). *MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly*. **60** (3). Duke University Press: 413–418 – via Project MUSE.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Tally, Robert T. Jr. (2007). ["Review of *The Emergence of American Literary Narrative, 1820-1860* by Jonathan Arac"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/41158306). *Amerikastudien / American Studies*. **52** (2): 249–251. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0340-2827](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0340-2827) – via JSTOR.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Tally, Robert T. Jr. (2023). ["An American Bakhtin: Jonathan Arac, or, the Vocation of the Critic"](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/critical-situation/an-american-bakhtin-jonathan-arac-or-the-vocation-of-the-critic/DD31DBB37CDCA69652207F0AB24A4663). *The Critical Situation: Vexed Perspectives in Postmodern Literary Studies*. Anthem Press. pp. 227–242. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781839988356](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781839988356).

## External links

- [*boundary 2* official website](https://www.boundary2.org/)

- [Faculty page](https://www.literature.pitt.edu/jonathan-arac) at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Literature

- [Humanities Center](http://www.humcenter.pitt.edu/index.php) at the University of Pittsburgh

- [Faculty profile](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/english/fac_profiles.htm#ja2007) at Columbia University

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