Ben Wiebracht

Ben Wiebracht earned his Ph.D. in English from Stanford in 2015 and has taught at the university since then in a variety of capacities. He served as a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric and continues to teach classes on nineteenth-century authors for Stanford Continuing Studies. His doctoral research focused on the evolution of love stories in English literature from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. More recently, he has been exploring (and in some cases, republishing) the work of some of the lesser-known contemporaries of his favorite novelist, Jane Austen, with the goal of gaining new insight into her life and career.

At Stanford OHS, Dr. Wiebracht teaches the final two courses in the English core curriculum: Modes of Writing and Argumentation and Critical Theory. His Critical Theory course, entitled “Canon and Counter-Canon,” aims to give students a broader view of literary eras and genres by teaching the work of well-known and neglected authors side by side. Students are also invited to consider how and why certain texts become canonical in the first place – and whether those processes reflect their own values. In addition to his regular courses, Dr. Wiebracht teaches an Advanced Topics course on Jane Austen whenever the opportunity arises.

One of the things Dr. Wiebracht most enjoys about his job is collaborating with students on scholarly projects. Together with fellow Stanford OHS teachers Drs. Hendrickson, Lanier, and Pisarello, he co-founded Pixelia Publishing, a non-profit, open-access publisher that provides a platform for student-teacher collaborations. You can learn more about Pixelia’s activities at pixeliapublishing.org.

Outside work, Dr. Wiebracht enjoys board-gaming, hiking, and cheering heartily for the Warriors, but only if it is the fourth quarter and they have a sizable lead. He and his wife live in San Jose with their son, James, and daughter, Eva.