His teaching and research interests include comparative literature in Hebrew and Spanish, literary theory, transnational writing and world literature.
His forthcoming book, "A Permanent Beginning: Nachman of Braslav and Jewish Literary Modernity" (SUNY Press, 2020), deals with the Russian imperial context of early modern Hebrew and Yiddish letters. His current book project, "A World of Literature: Jorge Luis Borges and the Problems of Literary Marginality," is a study of marginality and mysticism as literary tropes in the writing of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges.
Lewis has a B.A. in comparative literature, psychology and creative writing from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in Hebrew and comparative literature from Columbia University. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he taught at Columbia University.