S. Pearl Brilmyer
Department of English
S. Pearl Brilmyer's work lies at the intersection of the history of philosophy, science, and literature with a focus on the nineteenth-century English novel. Other areas of research include theories of will and drive in nineteenth-century German philosophy and science (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Freud, Reich), the history of sexuality, and materialisms old and new.
Prior to joining the faculty at Penn, Brilmyer was assistant professor at The University of Oregon and adjunct instructor at New York University, Pratt Institute, and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. She has held fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry, the DAAD (German Exchange Service), the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, the Wolf Humanities Center, and the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women Faculty Research.
Her book The Science of Character: Human Objecthood and the Ends of Victorian Realism (Chicago, 2022) develops a literary-theoretical approach to the history of science, advancing a theory of late Victorian realism as a “science of character” committed to understanding what brings characters—literary and natural historical, human and nonhuman—into existence. She has also recently co-edited two special issues, one with Filippo Trentin and Zairong Xiang in GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies on "The Ontology of the Couple," and another with Filippo Trentin in the journal Psychoanalysis & History on Lou Andreas-Salomé's 1916 essay, "'Anal' and 'Sexual'" featuring the first English translation of that essay.
S. Pearl Brilmyer received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin and her B.A. in English and philosophy from the University of Scranton. Her work lies at the intersection of the history of philosophy, science, and literature in nineteenth-century Europe. Her current book project concerns the philosophical implications of the disarticulation of character from plot in late Victorian realism. Other research interests include: theories of will and drive in 19th-century German philosophy, questions of temporality in feminist and queer theory, and materialisms old and new. Professor Brilmyer has recently published in PMLA, Representations, and Victorian Studies, and she is currently editing a special issue of GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies entitled "The Ontology of the Couple" with Filippo Trentin and Zairong Xiang. Her work has previously been supported by the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry, the DAAD (German Exchange Service), and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.
She is currently working on an experimental, annotated edition of Olive Schreiner's unfinished novel entitled The Prism I Hold in My Hand (under contract with Punctum Books) and a second book project, Queer Rigidity, on the tendency of desire to crystallize into patterns and follow well-worn paths. Her articles have been published in PMLA, Representations, Criticism, and Victorian Studies, among other venues.
Brilmyer is also a core faculty member in the the Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory