On “Polypharma Fiction” or the way that psychopharmacology is changing the form of the novel, for a special issue of ALH on “Diagnosing America: The Literatures of Mental Health in the United States,” edited by Lisa Mendelman and Gordon Hutner.

The “Harvard Novel” Enters the Twenty-first Century: On Elif Batuman’s fictions. Harvard Magazine, Jan-Feb 2023.

“Therapeutic Redescription.” How a stoical exercise has influenced novelists including Marcel Proust, Dorris Lessing, and Sheila Heti, in an edited volume, Literary Studies and Human Flourishing.

 “Wrestling with Boredom.” When staying inspired is part of the job, a contribution to a cluster on “boredom” for Post-45.

 “The Hidden Depths of the Jeopardy! Anecdote.” At the New Yorker.com, on the normcore of the Jeopardy! interview segments.

“The Self-Helpification of Academe.” In The Chronicle of Higher Education, on the uneasy alliance between the university and corporate wellness culture.

“The Radical History of Corporate Sensitivity.” An examination in The NewYorker.com of sensitivity training’s wacky origins in early-twentieth-century expressionist art and theatre.

“Modernism’s Anti-Advice.” In Modernism/Modernity, on the early 20th century self-help authors who inspired and irritated Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Virginia Woolf.

A review essay for Public Books about two novels concerned with mothering in times of crisis.

“The Self-Help Hermeneutic: Its Global History and Literary Future.” A scholarly survey in PMLA of self-help as an overlooked reading practice around the world.

“The New Self-Help” in Public Books. On Lena Dunham and other women authors trying to craft a better advice. 

“Ulysses as Self-Help Manual?” An academic analysis in MLQ of books arguing that James Joyce can change your life.

A playful provocation on the ideology of friendship for Cabinet Magazine.

“How to Read a Person. “ An essay on Elsie Lincoln Benedict, a 1920s suffragist turned self-help superstar.

A short reflection for The Drift Magazine on mental health and online advice during the pandemic.

For Aeon Magazine on what happens when Virginia Woolf meets Dale Carnegie.

When Did Self-Help Become Literary? An excerpt from my book at LitHub.

“Self-Help: The Other Fantasy Fiction.” A meditation for Aeon Ideas on self-help as :”fantasy fiction for the earthbound.”