Dominick LaCapra, Graduate Field

Dominick LaCapra, Professor of History and Bowmar Professor of Human Studies and Comparative Literature, is interested broadly in19 th and especially 20th century intellectual and cultural history and critical theory. He is the author of numerous books, whose titles speak to the range of his interests: Emile Durkheim: Sociologist and Philosopher (1972); A Preface to Sartre (1978); Madame Bovary on Trial (1982); Rethinking Intellectual History: Texts, Contexts, Language (1983); History & Criticism (1985); History, Politics, and the Novel (1987); Soundings in Critical Theory (1989); Representing the Holocaust: History, Theory, Trauma (1994); History and Memory after Auschwitz (1998); History and Reading: Tocqueville, Foucault, French Studies ( 2000); Writing History, Writing Trauma ( 2001), and History in Transit: Experience, Identity, Critical Theory (2004).

His recent research has been in the area of trauma and Holocaust studies. He has also been examining problems related to historical understanding and the relation between history and literature.

He teaches courses on aspects of modern European intellectual and cultural history (including the reading of classic texts), including critical theory, trauma studies, and fascism.