Autorenbiografien

 

 

Erika Berroth is Associate Professor of German and contributing faculty in Feminist Studies, Environmental Studies, and International Studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Her research areas include memory and trauma narratives in contemporary German literature, autobiographical fiction, and transnational identity narratives. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and published a book on gender and knowledge in the works of Heinrich von Kleist. Berroth is currently working on a book with a focus on migration stories and identity narratives from South Central Europe, integrating theoretical perspectives developed in the Environmental Humanities.

 

Nichole Dorobanov, born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1996, practiced the piano since she was 7 years old. She received a bachelor’s degree in German Studies and Piano Performance at Old Dominion University. Dorobanov is currently studying for a master’s degree in Piano Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Wales, Cardiff. She has given performances locally, nationally and internationally. She studied at the Moscow Conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna during the summers of 2017 & 2018. Her dream is to be a concert pianist, performing in concert halls worldwide. For musical examples, see: https://www.youtube.com/user/96Seaturtles/featured?view_as=subscriber.

 

Helga Druxes, geb. 1959 in Wuppertal. Studium Münster und Wellesley College, USA, Ph.D. in Komparatistik, Brown University. Unterrichtet seit 1987 Deutsch, deutsche Sozialgeschichte der Nachkriegszeit und Komparatistik am Williams College, 2019 Lehrstuhl Paul H. Hunn ‘55 Professor in Social Studies. Buchpublikationen u. a. zu den Schwerpunkten Rechtsextremismus und Integration mit Patricia A. Simpson, Hg. Digital Media Strategies of the Far Right Across Europe and the United States, Lanham: Lexington Books, 2015; “Pegida,” in German Politics and Society, (Winter 2016). Mit Karolin Machtans, Alexandar Mihailovic, Navid Kermani, 2016.

 

Gabriele Eckart: Professor of German and Spanish at the Department of Communication Studies and Modern Languages at Southeast Missouri State University and a writer. She published many articles on German and comparative literatures. The last book is Shifting Viewpoints: Cervantes in 20^th and 21^st Century Literature Written in German. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. Co-author: Meg Brown. New poems and short stories in journals and anthologies regularly.

 

Michael Eskin is an award-winning writer, critic, translator, philosopher, publisher and cofounder of Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc. in New York City. He has taught at Rutgers, Cambridge and Columbia Universities. A frequent public speaker in the US and Europe, as well as a guest on various radio shows, he has authored numerous books, including: Ethics and Dialogue, Poetic Affairs, The DNA of Prejudice, Yoga for the Mind, The Wisdom of Parenthood. His essays and translations have appeared in The New Yorker, World Literature Today and The Times Literary Supplement. Having lived in the Soviet Union, Latvia, Israel, Germany, Austria, France, and the United Kingdom, Michael Eskin currently resides in New York City with his wife and children.

 

Günter Herrmann, geboren 1951 in Karlsruhe, Studium der Germanistik und Geschichte in Heidelberg; Lehrer für Deutsch, Geschichte und Gemeinschaftskunde in Heilbronn; dazwischen mit seiner Frau einige Jahre im deutschen Auslandsschuldienst in der Slowakei und in Ungarn. Interessengebiete u.a.: Habsburger Monarchie; Weimarer Republik; 1945; Migration nach Deutschland.

 

Justin Johnson: A senior in ODU’s Department of Foreign Language and Literature, Justin has studied German for four years. He is interested in German philosophy, particularly the works of Nietzsche and Marx. Outside of the classroom, his interests include history, politics, economics, music, and gardening. Regarding music, Justin prides himself on his eclectic taste. His favorite genres are Post-Rock, Ambient/Drone, and Dream Pop. He came across Nico through a friend’s recommendation, and spent several years acquainting himself with her uniquely dark sounds. His top three Nico recommendations are Frozen Warnings, Heroes, and No one is there.

 

Frederick A. Lubich is the author and editor of seven books, including studies on Thomas Mann and Max Frisch as well as circa 400 scholarly, literary and journalistic publications in newspapers such as the New Yorker Aufbau, Argentinisches Tageblatt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. His translations include film scripts for various transatlantic co-productions and Yoko Ono’s rock opera New York Story. His scholarly and creative work has been featured in the print media, on LP, CD’s, television and radio programs in the United States and abroad. He has lectured widely in over 30 countries.

 

Janine Ludwig is a literary scholar, Academic Director of the Durden Dickinson Program at the University of Bremen, there Vice Head of the Institute for Cultural German Studies (IfkuD) and Chairwoman of the International Heiner Müller Society. Aside from numerous articles, she has published two books on Heiner Müller (Ikone West and Macht und Ohnmacht des Schreibens) and, together with Mirjam Meuser, two edited volumes on post-GDR literature: Literatur ohne Land? Dr. Ludwig teaches at the Departments of Cultural and German Studies at Uni Bremen and recently, with Uwe Spörl, a seminar on “Forgotten Wende Literature” (publication will follow).

 

Cheng Luo was born in 1992 in Beijing, China. Upon high school graduation in his hometown, he came to Norfolk, Virginia to attend Old Dominion University. His interests in the economic and political connections among China, Germany, and the US grew rapidly during his course of studies. Meanwhile, Luo became a daily listener of WHRO, FM 90.3, a classical music station in Norfolk. During his various school breaks he took extensive road trips in 46 states in the US, 18 countries in Europe, most parts of China, and both islands of New Zealand, seeking his own answer to Faust’s famous quest: “Was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält.”

 

Anja Moore grew up in a small East-German town in the heart of the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) during a time when the wall would remain a firm separation between the two Germanys. As the daughter of tradesmen whose business and therefore livelihood had been vehemently suppressed by the communist government, she was raised in a dual world, that of rejection and acceptance of the communist regime. During the chaos of a country trying to find its way back together, Anja emigrated to the U.S. in the early ‘90s. Today, she works as a teacher while also attempting to chronicle her past.

 

Wolfgang Müller, geboren am 19. 12. 1946 in Westberlin. Vater war Mitglied der KPD, dann SED. Umzug 1948 nach Ostberlin (Lichtenberg). 1961 Erweiterte Oberschule (Kant-Schule Lichtenberg); 1965 eingezogen bei der NVA. 1968 Studium der Japanologie an der Humboldt Universität. Am 6. April 1974 Flucht durch den Checkpoint Charlie. Ab 1975 Studium der Germanistik in Madison, Wisconsin. Schwerpunkt DDR-Literatur, Professor für Germanistik und Kulturgeschichte am Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. Ab 1996 zusammen mit Christine Cosentino und Wolfgang Ertl Herausgabe der Zeitschrift Glossen.

 

Michael Panitz is a historian and a rabbi. His research interests focus on modern Jewish history and the reception history of biblical and traditional religious narratives in post-traditional societies. Dr. Panitz teaches Hebrew language at Old Dominion University and Religious Studies at Virginia Wesleyan University. As a rabbi, he has served Temple Israel, a congregation in Norfolk, Virginia, since 1992.

 

Axel Reinhard Reitel, geboren am 7. April 1961 in Plauen (Vogtland). Zu seinen frühen Gedichtthemen gehören der im DDR-Alltag zutage tretende Ost-West-Zwiespalt. Für insgesamt vierundzwanzig Monate gerät er zwischen 1978 und 1982 in die Gefängnismühlen der Staatssicherheit. 1982 erfolgt der Freikauf durch die Bundesrepublik. 1985-1990 Studium der Kunstgeschichte und der Philosophie an der TU-Berlin. In dieser Zeit erscheinen die ersten beiden Prosabände. 1990 für zwölf Jahre Rückkehr nach Plauen. Ab 2002 wieder Lebensmittelpunkt Berlin. Diktatur-Forschung u.a. an der FU-Berlin. Zehn eigenständige Titel. Zehn Radiofeatures für den ARD-Hörfunk. Auszeichnungen: u.a. Solidarność-Dankbarkeitsmedaille, verliehen 2016 in Gdansk.

 

Guy Stern: Geboren 1922 in Hildesheim als Günther Stern. 1937 Emigration in die USA. Universitäts-Stationen in New York City (Columbia University), Cincinnati und Maryland, von 1981-2002 Distinguished Professor für Deutsche Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte an der Wayne State University in Detroit. Mehrere Gastprofessuren in Deutschland. Als Autor und Herausgeber Veröffentlichung zahlreicher Bücher zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, insbesondere zur Emigranten- und Immigrantenliteratur. Nach der Emeritierung seit 2002 Direktor des Instituts für Altruismusforschung am Holocaust-Museum in Detroit. Mitbegründer der Lessing Society, Vize-Präsident der Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. Präsident des PEN-Zentrums deutschsprachiger Autoren im Ausland. Auszeichnungen u.a.: Großes Verdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (1987), Goethe-Medaille (1989), Ritterorden der französischen Ehrenlegion.

 

Susan Wansink (Ph.D. Purdue University) is Professor of German and Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Virginia Wesleyan University. Her research focuses on images of Berlin in literature and film. Publications include the book Female Victims and Oppressors in Novels by Theodor Fontane and François Mauriac (1998) and the translation of Kenton Blau: Die Leipziger Tagebücher 1986-1987 (The Sound Behind the Wall) (2019). She served on the board of the AATG-VA for over twenty years and was the 2019 recipient of the Ronald Horwege Award for Outstanding Service.