Peter Preston Brooks (born 1938) is an American literary theorist who is

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

Emeritus of Comparative Literature at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and Andrew W. Mellon Scholar in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for Human Values at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He has been Professor in the Department of English and School of Law at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. Among his many accomplishments is the founding of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2003. Brooks is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work cuts across French and English literature, law, and psychoanalysis. He was influenced by fellow Yale scholar, Paul de Man, to whom his book ''Reading for the Plot'' is dedicated. His 2022 book ''Seduced By Story'' was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle award in criticism.

Education

Brooks obtained his B.A. (1959) and Ph.D. (1965) from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He also studied at

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

as a Marshall Scholar, and at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

Personal life

Brooks has five children. On July 18, 1959, Brooks married Margaret Elisabeth Waters. On May 12, 2001, Brooks married the law professor, author and commentator, Rosa Brooks. The couple later divorced.

Bibliography

Books

;Non-fiction * ''The Novel of Worldliness: Crébillon, Marivaux, Laclos, Stendhal'' (1969) * ''The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Mode of Excess'' (1976), * ''Reading for the Plot: Design and Intention in Narrative'' (1984), * ''Body Work: Objects of Desire in Modern Narrative'' (1993), * ''Psychoanalysis and Storytelling'' (1994), * ''Law's Stories: Narrative and Rhetoric in the Law'' (co-editor with Paul Gewirtz, 1996), * ''Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law and Literature'' (2000), * ''Whose Freud? The Place of Psychoanalysis in Contemporary Culture'' (co-editor with Alex Woloch) (2000), * ''Realist Vision'' (2005), * ''Henry James Goes to Paris '' (2007), * ''Enigmas of Identity'' (2011), * ''Anthologie du mélodrame classique'' (with Myriam Faten Sfar, 2011), * ''Flaubert in the Ruins of Paris: The Story of a Friendship, a Novel, and a Terrible Year'' (2017), * ''Balzac's Lives'' (2020), * ''Seduced by Story'' (2022), ;Fiction * ''World Elsewhere'' (2000), * ''The Emperor's Body'' (2010),

Papers

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Emeritus Faculty bio at Yale Comp Lit departmentbio at Princeton Comp Lit department
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Peter 1938 births Living people Yale University faculty Alumni of University College London University of Paris alumni Harvard Advocate alumni Princeton University faculty Yale Sterling Professors Members of the American Philosophical Society American expatriates in England American expatriates in France Corresponding fellows of the British Academy