Johns Hopkins UniversityEST. 1876

America’s First Research University
Nan Z. Da

Nan Z. Da

Associate Professor

Contact Information

Research Interests: nineteenth-century American and trans-Atlantic literature and letters, modern Chinese literature and letters, literary and social theory, the intersection of literary studies and the data sciences

Education: BA, University of Chicago; PhD, University of Michigan

English > People > Nan Z. Da
Photo credit: Jim Burger
 
I teach and write about a variety of subjects from nineteenth-century American literature to transatlantic philosophy, from the history of Maoist trauma to the intersection of literary studies and the data sciences.
 
These interests gather under broader ones. One line I've pursued in my work concern depictive challenges. What realities are hard to depict accurately? They seem to range from the most ordinary facts of cross-cultural encounters to the most extraordinary cases of severe wronging. Most of my examples come from nineteenth- and twentieth century China (roughly from the Taiping Rebellion to the end of the Opening and the Reform) and the eighteenth- and nineteenth century America (roughly from the French and Indian War to the Gilded Age). Related interests and areas of research include the nature of inferential difficulty, both in the general case and as specific to literary criticism; empiricism's design concept and its hopes and limits; the notions of bias and confounding as understood and anticipated by the scientific method.
 
I am happy to supervise any project, at the undergraduate or graduate level, that forwards an original idea and is committed to reading comprehension and critical investigation. I generally work with students on a.) early American literature from Jonathan Edwards to Henry James, b.) literary-theoretical studies of technology or the quantitative sciences, and c.) comparative projects  that take up theories and realities of contact, cultural difference, translation, and mutual regard (often but not necessarily involving the Chinese language).
 
I have taught courses on American transcendentalism, 20th-century Chinese culture and history, literary and social theory, as well as traditional survey courses on 19th-century American literature and world literature. Newly introduced courses include  "Literary Studies as Data Science" (Taught in 2024 and 2025) and "Literature of the Chinese Diaspora" (offered Spring 2026).
 
With Professor Andrea Gadberry I edit the Thinking Literature series housed at the University of Chicago Press.

Scholarly Publications

On Literary Studies and Computational Analysis 

Reviews and Other Essays

The Chinese Tragedy of King Lear

Works in Progress

  • Academic monograph, “Disambiguation, a Tragedy: Criticism and Writing from the Chinese Diaspora.”

Forthcoming Talks

  • “On Predicamentality,” Renaissance Studies Association, San Francisco, Feb 19-21
  • “The Death of the Scientific Method,” Symposium on “The Meaning of AI,” University of Chicago, Feb 27, 2026