Sarah Blackwood

Sarah Blackwood: A Voice for the Humanities in Modern Discourse

We’ve followed Sarah Blackwood’s work as a scholar, critic, and advocate for the humanities with deep admiration. Her career bridges academic rigor and public-facing cultural commentary, offering nuanced perspectives on literature’s role in shaping societal values. As an English professor at Pace University and frequent contributor to prestigious outlets like The New Yorker and New York Review of Books, Blackwood has become a vital interpreter of historical texts for contemporary audiences.

Career Trajectory: From Academic Scholarship to Cultural Criticism

Blackwood’s journey began with a PhD in English from Northwestern University (2009), where she developed foundational expertise in 19th-century American literature and visual culture. Her early scholarship, including the monograph The Portrait’s Subject: Inventing Inner Life in the Nineteenth-Century United States (UNC Press, 2019), established her as a leading voice in analyzing how literary and artistic representations shaped modern conceptions of identity.

• 2014-2019: Co-founded and edited NYU Press’s Avidly Reads series, bridging academic and general audiences
• 2019-Present: Authored introductions for Penguin Classics editions of Edith Wharton’s major works
• 2021: Awarded Pace University’s Kenan Award for Teaching Excellence

Defining Works: Three Key Articles

"Letter from an English Department on the Brink" (New York Review of Books, 2023)

This searing critique of university austerity measures combines personal narrative with structural analysis. Blackwood documents her department’s 40% enrollment growth juxtaposed against administrative cuts, using Pace University as a microcosm of nationwide humanities devaluation. Her methodology blends:

• Institutional budget analysis
• Oral histories from faculty and students
• Comparative data from AAUP surveys

The article’s impact resonated beyond academia, sparking discussions in The Chronicle of Higher Education and NPR’s On the Media about the correlation between humanities education and democratic engagement.

"Little Women and the Marmee Problem" (The New Yorker, 2019)

In this cultural reassessment of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Blackwood examines Marmee March through feminist and historical lenses. Key contributions include:

• Archival research into Alcott’s correspondence about maternal archetypes
• Analysis of 20+ film/TV adaptations’ treatment of motherhood
• Interviews with contemporary authors like Jacqueline Woodson

“Marmee emerges not as a static moral compass, but as a complex negotiation of 19th-century femininity—a character constantly rewriting herself within the constraints of her world.”

"What Do We Do with The Age of Innocence in 2020?" (Literary Hub, 2020)

This pandemic-era reflection on Edith Wharton’s novel demonstrates Blackwood’s ability to make historical fiction urgently relevant. She employs:

• Comparative analysis of 1918 vs. 2020 social crises
• Close readings of Wharton’s descriptions of societal performativity
• Interdisciplinary references from sociology (Erving Goffman) to public health

Beat Analysis & Pitching Recommendations

1. Pitch Historical Literature Through Contemporary Social Lenses

Blackwood consistently frames 19th-century texts as vital to understanding modern issues. Her Wharton introductions explore how The Custom of the Country critiques wealth inequality, while her New Yorker piece on Little Women connects to #MeToo-era feminism. Successful pitches should:

• Identify understudied angles in canonical works
• Draw explicit connections to current events
• Incorporate interdisciplinary research (art history, sociology)

2. Address the Material Conditions of Humanistic Work

Her NYRB article exemplifies how to make academic labor issues compelling to general readers. Pitches might explore:

• Adjunct faculty crisis through specific departmental case studies
• Impact of AI tools on humanities pedagogy
• Comparative funding models across international universities

3. Re-examine "Women’s Literature" Through Scholarly Rigor

Blackwood’s work dismantles gendered genre distinctions. Effective pitches should:

• Analyze domestic fiction’s narrative innovations
• Recover overlooked 19th-century female intellectuals
• Critique contemporary publishing’s categorization practices

Pitching Do’s and Don’ts

• Do: Ground abstract concepts in textual evidence from primary sources
• Do: Connect academic research to broader cultural conversations
• Don’t: Propose listicles or superficial "hot takes" on classic texts
• Don’t: Assume familiarity with critical theory jargon
• Do: Highlight underrepresented voices in literary history

Awards and Achievements

Kenan Award for Teaching Excellence (2021)

Pace University’s highest teaching honor, recognizing Blackwood’s innovative curriculum integrating digital humanities with traditional literary analysis. Her signature course "Selfies, Lit and the Visual" examines self-representation from Renaissance portraiture to Instagram.

National Endowment for the Humanities Grant (2012)

Awarded for her research on Civil War visual culture, leading to groundbreaking publications about African American photographic practices. This work informed her current book project on mid-century children’s literature.

Penguin Classics Introductions (2019-2022)

Selected to contextualize Wharton’s works for modern readers, a rare honor demonstrating her ability to bridge scholarly and popular audiences. Her introductions have been cited in over 30 academic papers and incorporated into high school AP curricula.