Jeffrey Cohen

Jeffrey Cohen is the Dean of Humanities in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Foundation Professor of English. 

His research examines strange and beautiful things that challenge the imagination, phenomena that are alien and intimate at once. A Guggenheim fellow and two time ACLS awardee, Cohen is widely published in the fields of medieval studies, monster theory, and the environmental humanities. His book Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman received the 2017 René Wellek Prize in comparative literature from the American Comparative Literature Association. In collaboration with Lindy Elkins-Tanton he co-wrote the book Earth, a re-examination of our widest home from the perspectives of a planetary scientist and a literary humanist. With environmental humanities scholar Stephanie Foote he co-edited The Cambridge Companion to Environmental Humanities. With Julian Yates he co-wrote Noah's Arkive (2023). His next book Monster Theory Returns will be published in early 2027.

An overview of his success as dean of humanities may be found here.

BOOKS

Noah's Arkive. Co-authored with Julian Yates. University of Minnesota Press, 2023.

Stone: An Ecology of the Inhuman. University of Minnesota Press, 2015. Winner of the René Wellek Prize for best book in comparative literature, 2017. Translated into German, 2023. Russian translation forthcoming.

Earth. Co-authored with planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton. Bloomsbury (Object Lessons series), 2017.

Hybridity, Identity and Monstrosity in Medieval Britain: Of Difficult Middles. Palgrave Macmillan, New Middle Ages series, 2006.

Medieval Identity Machines. University of Minnesota Press, Medieval Cultures series, 2003. 

Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages. University of Minnesota Press, Medieval Cultures series, 1999. 

EDITED COLLECTIONS

Monster Theory Returns. University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming spring 2027. Editor.

The Cambridge Companion to Environmental Humanities. Cambridge University Press, 2021. Editor, with Stephanie Foote.

Veer Ecology: A Companion for Environmental Thinking. University of Minnesota Press, 2018. Editor, with Lowell Duckert.

Elemental Ecocriticism: Thinking with Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. University of Minnesota Press, 2015. Editor, with Lowell Duckert.

Prismatic Ecology: Ecotheory Beyond Green. University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Editor.

Cultural Diversity in the British Middle Ages: Archipelago, Island, England. Palgrave Macmillan, New Middle Ages series, 2008. Editor.

Thinking the Limits of the Body. State University of New York Press, Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art series, 2002. Editor, with Gail Weiss.

The Postcolonial Middle Ages. Palgrave, New Middle Ages series, 2000. Editor.

Becoming Male in the Middle Ages. Garland Publishing, New Middle Ages series, 1997. Editor, with Bonnie Wheeler. 

Monster Theory:  Reading Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Editor. Translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Hungarian.