전공 분야는 근대미국문학과 비평이론이며, 주요 연구 관심사는 근대 미국문화의 담론 형성과 글쓰기의 문제, 현대비평이론의 정치성, 그리고 영화이론 및 동아시아 영화의 가능성을 탐색하는 작업이다. 최근에는 철학과 문학의 상보적 관계, 정신분석학 이론의 정치성, 동아시아 문화교류와 국민영화의 관계를 연구하고 있다. 저서로 『프로이트 세미나』 (문학동네 2019)와 The Birth of a Style: Emerson and the Writing of the Moment in the American Renaissance (SNU Press, 2003)가 있으며, 번역서로 『팬데믹 패닉』 (북하우스, 2020)과 『어리석음』 (문학동네 2015)이 있다. 최근 논문으로 “Virus-ex-machina and Political Revolution” (Journal of English Language and Literature, Vol. 66. No. 2, 2020), “Bartleby and the Abyss of Potentiality” (Concentric, Vol 46. No. 2. 2020), “I Would Prefer Not Not-to: Critical Theory after Bartleby” (Interventions, May, 2020), “Why They Prefer Bartleby? Ethics of Theory in Political Critique” (Forum for World Literature Studies, Vol 11. No. 3. 2019), 「인공지능시대의 인간중심주의와 타자화」 (『비교문학』, 72 권 1호, 2017) 등이 있다