Rachel M. Brownstein (born 1938) is an American feminist literary critic, author, and academic.
Early life
Rachel M. Brownstein was born in Queens, NY, on May 9, 1937. She attended Hunter College High School and Barnard College, and received her Ph.D. in English from Yale University.
Academic career
Brownstein is an emeritus professor of English at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is known for her contributions to the field of English literature and her work on the novel, particularly the 18th and 19th-century British novel. Her research and writing have focused on various aspects of literature, including narrative theory, women writers, and the intersections of literature and culture. She is the author of four books, Becoming a Heroine: Reading about Women in Novels; Tragic Muse: Rachel of the Comédie-Française; Why Jane Austen?; and American Born: An Immigrant's Story, A Daughter's Memoir. She was a Macdowell fellow in 1980 and the Freedley Award winner for her book Tragic Muse in 1994 . She is considered a foundational feminist literary critic and a leading scholar of Jane Austen's works.