Dr. Rebecca Johnson

Biography

Rebecca C. Johnson is a scholar of comparative literature with a specialization in modern Arabic literature and literary culture. Her research focuses on the literary exchanges between Arabic and European languages during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examining the history and theory of the novel, transnational literary circulation, and translation. Her book, "Stranger Fictions: A History of the Novel in Arabic Translation, 1835-1913," published by Cornell University Press in 2021, theorizes the cross-linguistic history of Arabic literary modernity by tracing the production and reception of translated fiction. The work argues that a new transnational history of the novel places translation at its center, highlighting how Arabic translation techniques have provided sophisticated insights into the historical and formal composition of the novel as a global genre, shaped by the inequalities of cross-cultural communications in the age of Empire. In addition to her research on transnationalism in Arabic literature, Professor Johnson’s work has appeared in journals such as NOVEL and Modern Language Quarterly. She serves as the Associate Editor for the Journal of Arabic Literature and is a fellow of several prestigious academic organizations. Furthermore, she teaches various courses related to modern Arabic literature and translation studies.

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