elman works in the fields of psychoanalytic literary

criticism, performativity theory, feminism, Holocaust testimony, and other areas, though her
writings frequently question, ironize, or test the limits of the very critical methods being
employed. Often in her writing a reversal will occur so that the critical vocabulary gets
subjected to and converted into the terms of the literary or cultural object being scrutinized
rather than simply settling the meaning of the object; thus in Felman's style of criticism
there is no fixed hierarchy of theory over and beyond the reach of the literary object.[4] As
such, her methods share an affinity with deconstruction, for which she is sometimes
associated with the Yale School and colleagues such as Paul de Man.
Jacques Lacan is a significant influence on Felman and she was among the vanguard of
theorists—and perhaps foremost among those addressing Anglophone audiences[5]—to
rigorously apply his concepts to the study of literature.
Since the 1990s Felman has written texts on testimony and trauma, particularly in the
context of the Holocaust and other collective trauma.[6]