Curriculum Vitae
Major Scholarly Interests
Science, technology, and literature in the 18th-19th centuries; philosophy, language and literature; rhetoric and literature; history of philology and hermeneutics; traditions of classical culture; music, literature and philosophy.
Employment and Appointments
1990-1996 Assistant Professor, German Department, Northwestern University
1996-2004 Associate Professor, German Department, Northwestern University
1997-1998 Jean Gimble Lane Professor of the Humanities, Northwestern Univ.
Director, Alice B. Kaplan Center for the Humanities, Northwestern University
2003-2006 Director, Program in Comparative Literary Studies, Northwestern University
2004-2009 Professor of German Literature and Classics, Northwestern University
2009- Professor of German and Comparative Literature, University of Colorado at Boulder
2010 - 2019 Eaton Professor of Humanities and Arts
2010 -2019 Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder
2011- Courtesy Professor of English
2016- Courtesy Professor of Classics
Education
1986-1990 Ph.D. Stanford University, German Dept. / Humanities Special Program
1985-1986 Collège International de Philosophie (Paris)
1983-1985 M.A. Freie Universität Berlin, German and Latin Literature,
1981-1983 Università degli Studi, Florence, Italy
1978-1981 Universität Düsseldorf; German and Latin Literature, Philosophy
Publications
Books Authored
Epigenesis. Naturphilosophie in Wilhelm von Humboldts Sprachdenken. Paderborn: Schöningh 1993. (Reviewed in Germanistik 35 (1994), p. 2310; Philosophia (Argentinia) 2 (1995); Athenäum 5 (1995); Zeitschrift für Germanistik 3 (1995); Radio Deutsche Welle 10/6/1997)
Self-Generation. Biology, Philosophy, and Literature Around 1800. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1997. (Reviewed in ISIS, 89:1 (1998), pp. 136-137; Philosophy in Review 18:4 (1998), pp. 285-287; The German Quarterly, Winter 1999, pp. 85 – 86; Germanic Notes and Reviews 31:1 (2000), pp. 74 – 75; Seminar XXXVIII, 1 (2001), pp. 77 – 79; Comparative Literature 38/3 (2001), pp. 261 – 262; contributions1:1 (2005), 83 – 108)
Desorientierung: Anatomie und Dichtung bei Georg Büchner. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2003. (Reviewed in: Neue Züricher Zeitung, June 7th, 2003; Arbitrium 2/2003, pp. 222 – 225; German Studies Review 27/1 (2004), pp. 148 – 149; Germanistik 46 (2005) H. 1/2, pp. 347 – 348;
The Cylinder. Kinematics of the 19th Century. University of California Press 2012. (Reviewed in: Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 67/3 (December 2012), 401 – 403; Modern Language Quarterly 74:4 (December 2013), pp. 449 – 553; Monatshefte 106/2 (2014), 309 – 310); Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature 2015;
The Science of Literature. Essays on an Incalculable Difference. Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 2015. (Reviewed in: http://www.literaturkritik.de/public/rezension.php?rez_id=21046; MLN 131/3 (2016), 817 – 821; Goethe Yearbook XXIV (2017), 319 - 321)
Lesen als reine Erfahrung. Inklusion und Diversität im Dialog mit William James. Würzburg: Koenigshausen & Neumann 2021.
Books Co-Authored and Edited
With J. Trabant, Humboldt, Hermeneutik, Poetik (Kodikas/CODE XI (1988), No. 1/2.)
Books Translated
Hélène Cixous, Benjamin an Montaigne. Was man nicht sagen darf. (Benjamin à Montaigne. Il ne faut pas le dire. Paris: Galilée 2001) Wien: Passagen Verlag 2008 (Reviewed in Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 5/18 2008, p. 28)
Joseph Vogl, On Tarrying. Calcutta: Seagull Press 2011
Hans Blumenberg, St. Matthew Passion. Translated by Helmut Müller-Sievers and Paul Fleming. Cornell: Cornell University Press 2021
Books in Progress
The Novel Experience. Reading Fiction with Nāgārjuna, Nietzsche, and William James. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, October 2025.
Book Reviews, Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts (Selection)
Lorraine Daston (ed.), Biographies of Scientific Objects; William Clark, Jan Golinski, Simon Shaffer (eds.), The Sciences in Enlightenment Europe; Peter Pesic, Labyrinth. Eighteenth Century Studies 34/3 (2001), pp. 478 – 481.
„Die Probe aufs Exempel der Theorie. Osnabrück in Algerien—jüngste Prosa von Hélène Cixous.“ In: Frankfurter Rundschau, November 6, 2001 (Forum Humanwissenschaften).
Articles on American culture in Frankfurter Rundschau 2004: 6/15, 6/24, 7/9, 7/23, 8/5, 8/10, 8/18/, 8/27, 8/31, 9/9, 9/29, 10/16, 10/29, 11/6, 2005: 09/10, 2007: 01/18, 02/13, 2008: 03/06,
Simone De Angelis, Von Newton zu Haller. ISIS 26/2 (June 2005), p. 280.
John T. Hamilton, Soliciting Darkness. Modern Philology 103/2 (November 2005), pp. 215 – 217.
Richard Sieburth (transl.), Georg Büchner, Lenz. MLN 121 (2006), pp. 774 – 797.
„Der Vorbeifahrer. Thomas Pynchon schreibt gegen die Dunkelheit.“ Nach Feierabend. Zürcher Jahrbuch für Wissensgeschichte 2007, 161 – 169.
Dirk Oschmann, “Bewegliche Dichtung. Sprachtheorie und Poetik bei Lessing, Schiller und Kleist.“ In: Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert 34.2 (2010),
John Tresch, „The Romantic Machine. Utopian Science and Technology after Napoleon.“ Centaurus 55/1 (2013), 50 – 52.
„Hélène Cixous im Winter.“ Merkur Blog 01/12/2015 http://www.merkur-blog.de/2015/01/helene-cixous-im-winter/
„Dekonstruktion im Rückspiegel.“ Merkur Blog 02/09/2015 http://www.merkur-blog.de/2015/02/dekonstruktion-im-rueckspiegel/
„Weltschmerz.“ http://www.merkur-zeitschrift.de/2015/12/weltschmerz/
„Buddhistischer Minimalismus.“ http://www.merkur-zeitschrift.de/2016/01/minimalistischer-buddhismus/
Rabea Kleymann, “Formlose Form. Epistemik und Poetik des Aggregats beim späten Goethe.“ In: Germanic Review 97 (2022), 292 – 293.
„Sezession der Gemüter.“ In: Merkur 909 (Februar 2025), 95 – 100.
„Sezession der Gemüter – Korrekturen I.“ In: Merkur 913 (Juni 2025), 90 – 94.
Invited Talks
“Gott als Schriftsteller. Herder and the Hermeneutic Tradition.” International Herder Conference, Stanford, Nov. 5-8, 1987.
“Rilke und Heidegger spielen American Football.” Humboldtschloß Tegel, July 17, 1988.
“Herder and the Biology of Generation.” International Herder Conference, Charlottesville, April 12-15, 1990.
“Biological Models in 'Classical' German Thought: The Case of Wilhelm von Humboldt.” C.I.S.S.T. Northwestern University, Feb. 15, 1991.
“Philosophical Origins of Romantic Naturphilosophie.” Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science, University of Chicago, April 23, 1991.
“Insemination. Wilhelm v. Humboldt´s Organisation of Language Philosophy.” Annual Conference of the Society for Literature and Science. Montréal, Oct 11, 1991.
“Verstümmelung. Schiller, Fichte, Humboldt und die Genealogie des Masochismus.” Internationales DFG-Colloquium Der ganze Mensch. Anthropologie und Literatur im 18. Jahrhundert. Wolfenbüttel, Sept. 22-25, 1992.
“Prehistory of the Genetic Code.” Annual Conference of the Society for Literature and Science, Atlanta, Oct. 9, 1992.
“The Task of History´s Writer.” MLA Annual Conference, New York 1992.
“Über Zeugungskraft. Biologische und sprachliche Generativität im frühen 19. Jahrhundert.” Colloquium Räume des Wissens, Universität Lübeck, November 18-21, 1993.
“Ehe. Science and Language in Goethe´s Elective Affinities.” Duke University, Feb. 18, 1995.
“Ist Wilhelm noch zu retten? Thesen zum Stand der Humboldt-Forschung.” Universität Düsseldorf, May 30, 1995.
“Kant's Orientalism.” GSA Annual Conference, Seattle, October 1996.
“Philosophies of Orientation.” Loyola University, Chicago, March 1997.
“From Geography to Erdkunde: Strategies of Orientation in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Science and Philosophy.” Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, June 1997.
“Political Implications of Romantic Naturphilosophie.” Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, August 1997.
“German-American Cooperation in Humanistic Research.” National Humanities Center, October 1997.
“Anatomy and Metaphor in Georg Büchner’s Work.” Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, September 3, 1998.
“Breaking Language. Brain Anatomy and Rhetoric in Georg Büchner.” Medicine and Culture Workshop, University of Chicago, December 1998.
“Meridian. Astronomers, Philosophers, and Engineers in Search of Orientation 1700-1786.” Chicago-Area Seminar on 18th Century Studies, Northwestern University, Feb. 25, 1999.
“The Power of Formalism” Roundtable discussion with John Onians, Richard Wollheim, Susan Sontag, et al. Clark Arts Institute, March 12-13, 1999.
“Goethe and the Avoidance of Tragedy.” A New Germany in a New Europe. University of Chicago June 10-11, 1999.
“Nietzsche: Geburt und Unterbrechung.“ Conference „Zeugung – Geburt – Kunst.“ Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung, München, April 4 – 7, 2000.
"Ablesen. Chemische und mechanische Lektüren im 19. Jahrhundert.“ Conference „Literaturforschung & Wissenschaftsgeschichte.“ Zentrum für Literaturforschung Berlin, October 5 – 8, 2000.
„Inappropriate Language. Georg Büchner and his Editors.“ Stanford University, May 2, 2001.
“Radical Philology. Historical Apriories in the Understanding of Literature.” Stanford University. May 3, 2001.
"Affinity, Resemblance, Kinship. Aspects of Heredity in Enlightenment Science and Rhetoric.” Workshop “Cultural History of Heredity,” Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin, May 25 – 27, 2001.
„Georg Büchner’s Revolutions: Language and Politics.” The Ida Rombach Lecture. University of Chicago, German Department, November 14, 2001.
“On the Way to Language. Remarks on Paul Celan’s Meridian Speech.” The Sawyer Seminar on Modern Poetry, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago, May 13, 2002.
"Ahnen. Zur literarischen Figuration von Generationsverhältnissen in der Literatur des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts." Die Generation als symbolische Form. Zentrum für Literaturforschung Berlin, June 27 – 29, 2002.
„Orientierung als Kulturtechnik: Geographie, Philosophie, Dichtung.“ Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, November 12, 2002.
„Cultural History of Heredity II: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Max-Planck-Insitut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Berlin, January 10 – 12, 2003.
„The Cylinder, Figure of the Nineteenth Century.“ Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, March 12, 2003.
„Rhetoric of Geometrical Forms.“ Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, June 3, 2003.
„Tales from the German Crypt: Georg Büchner in the Hands of his Editors.” Deutsches Haus, New York City, November 20th, 2003.
“Rigidity and Rotation.” Keynote address, Graduate Student Conference Formula + Metaphor, The Johns Hopkins University, December 3 – 5, 2004.
“Radicalism in Philology.” Oxford University, April 12, 2005.
“Betrayal and Conspiracy.” IfK Summer School, St. Wolfgang, Austria, August 21 – 28, 2005.
“Der iphigenetische Blick.” Kulturen des Blicks. IfK Wien, June 20, 2006.
“Zur Formgeschichte der Maschinen: Reuleaux, Marx, Deleuze/Guattari.” ETH Zürich, June 8, 2006
“Beckett, der Verwaiser.” IfK Workshop, June 12, 2006.
“Druck und Dichtung. Realismus und Maschinen im Roman des 19. Jahrhundert.” GSA Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, September 29, 2006.
“Playing through Pain. Schiller and the Emergence of Masochism.” UC Berkeley, December 8, 2006
“Linkages. Kleist’s Puppets and 19th Century Kinematics.” University of Michigan, January 26, 2007
“Drehmoment. Kinematics and Literature.” German Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, February 22, 2007
“Praeteritio. Figures of Exile and Return in Hélène Cixous’ Benjamin à Montaigne.” Keynote address, Graduate Student Conference Literary Odysseys. University of Colorado, Boulder, February 24, 2007
“Life in Translation. On the Emergence of Kinematics in the 19th Century.” Life—“the saving word”. NYU, March 30th, 2007.
“Spiral Thought in Kant, Goethe, and Ball.” GSA Annual Meeting, San Diego, Oct. 5 – 7, 2007.
“Form as Agent in Cultural History: The Cylinder.” Getty Research Institute, January 7, 2008.
“Grace and Torque. The Aesthetics of Kinematic Motion.” UCLA German Department, April 29, 2008.
“Werkstatt statt Labor. Bewegungszwingung und Erzähltechnik im 19. Jahrhundert.” Experiment und Literatur II, ETH Zürich, October 11, 2008.
“The Work of Fiction or, Why are German novels of the 19th century so bad?” University of Colorado, Boulder, December 11, 2008.
„Die Vorbeifahrerin. Zur Prosa von Hélène Cixous.“ ICI Berlin, January 23, 2009.
“The Meaning of Translation.” History of Concepts Workshop, University of Chicago, February 24, 2009.
“Messy or Messianic. Ways of Seeing the 19th Century.” Institute for German Cultural Studies, Cornell University, March 6, 2009.
“Hélène Cixous bei uns.” ICI Berlin, May 28 2009.
“Theater und Vierfacher Sinn. Zur Klassifikation von Maschinen um 1800.” Albertus Magnus Universität Köln, July 11, 2009.
“Herder and the anthropology of rotation.” GSA Washington, D.C., October 11, 2009
“Rolling with Marx. Revolution and Technics in Das Kapital.” Approaching Revolution. University of Virginia, Charlottesville March 25 – 27, 2010.
“Creoles of Knowledge”. ACLA Annual Conference, New Orleans, April 1 – 3, 2010
“Poetics of Engineering”. Indiana University, Bloomington, October 2, 2010.
“The Novel Machine. 19th Century Narrative and the Wisdom of the Engineers.” Comparative Epistemologies of Literature. University of Chicago, April 6 – 7, 2011.
“Two Revolutions. Hans Blumenberg on Astronomy, Technology, and the Realism of the Novel.” NYU Deutsches Haus, April 21, 2011.
“Astronoetics.” Ruhr-Universität Bochum, June 28, 2011.
„The Future of German Studies.“ The Johns Hopkins University, Futures Seminar, November 10 – 11, 2011.
„The Trill of Subjectivity. Keyboard action, virtuosity, and bio-power in 19th Century piano music.“ University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sawyer Seminar on Bio-Power, February 23, 2012.
„Extrinsic Curvature. On the Topology of 19th Century Prose.“ Keynote, Graduate Student Conference on Topologies of Reading, Princeton University, March 30, 2012.
„Probability and Suspense in 19th Century Novels.“ GSA 2012, Milwaukee, October 4 – 7, 2012.
]“Epiphylogenesis. The Lives of Machines around 1800.” The Aesthetics of Bildung. Literature, Knowledge, and the Pleasure of Representation. Johns Hopkins University, November 9 – 10, 2012.“Making the Gestell Sing: Romantic Music Theory, Virtuoso Performance, and the Aesthetics of Machines”. MLA 2013, January 3 – 6.
“Astropoetics.” GSA 2013, Denver Oct. 3 – 5.
“The Moment of Narration. Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre and the European Novel.” Rodig Lecture and Seminar, Rutgers University, April 3 – 4, 2014.
“Turning.” Workshop co-taught with Jennifer Roberts at Harvard University, May 19 – 23, 2014.
“Goethes kosmische Erzählmaschine.“ Kosmos & Kontingenz, Berlin, July 10 – 12, 2014.
„Narrative Strategies and Social Responsibility.“ Berkeley, German Department, September 10, 2014.
„Hans Blumenberg’s Passionate Philology.” GSA Annual Conference, Kansas City, September 19, 2014.
“God’s Own Failure.” Conceptions of Philology. Notre Dame, September 23, 2014.
“Cylinders Everywhere.” Graduate Student Workshop, German Department, University of Zurich, October 1, 2014.
“Goethe and the Cosmographical Tradition.” Zu des Sirius golden Küsten. University of Zurich, October 3, 2014.
“Narrative and Truth.” GSA Annual Conference, Washington D.C., October 2, 2015
“Goethes Schlüsselpoetik.” Goethe’s Schlusspoetik. University of Chicago, March 12-14, 2016.
“More on Cylinders and Turning.” Turning Workshop, Harvard University, July 17 19, 2016.
“”Die rotierende Bewegung der Monas um sich selbst.” Goethe und der Begriff des Lebens. Goethes Zeitbegriffe. ZfL Berlin, November 11 – 12, 2016.
“The Key to All Novels: Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre and the Continuity of Tradition.” Yale University, April 13, 2017
“Precision and Exactness.” Joint workshop ETH Zürich / Eikones Basel. September 18, 2017.
„Sehen und Vision bei Henry James.“ Forschergruppe BildEvidenz, FU Berlin, November 11, 2017.
„“Schaue her!“ Hans Blumenberg on Bach’s Matthäuspassion and the Problem of a Protestant Artwork.” IGCS Colloquium, Cornell University, March 9, 2018.
“I can’t go on, I’ll go on. The Problem of Narrative Continuity in Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.” Princeton University, November 15, 2018.
“On Common Ground. Goethe, the Modern Novel, and the Diversity of Experience.” 115th Distinguished Research Lecture, University of Colorado Boulder, March 10, 2021 (virtual)
„Roman und reine Erfahrung. William James‘ radikaler Empirismus als Vollzug des Lesens.“ Zurich Distinguished Lectures The Art of Interpretation. May 26, 2021 (virtual)
Grants, Awards, Fellowships
1981-1988 Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
1991 URGC Research Grant, Northwestern University
1993 URGC Research Grant, Northwestern University
1994-1995 National Endowment for the Humanities, National Humanities Center
1997, 1998, Summer Guest Scholar, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
2001 URGC Research Grant, Northwestern University ($3,500)
2001 Mellon Foundation Grant for the Kaplan Center for the Humanities ($280,000 x 2)
2002-2003 Visiting Senior Scholar, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin.
2003 URGC Publication Subvention, Northwestern University ($5,000)
2005 Teaching Fellow, Sommerakademie des IfK, St. Wolfgang, (Austria)
2006 Senior Fellow, Institut für Kulturwissenschaft, Vienna, March – June.
2007-2008 Senior Scholar, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.
2011 Kayden Award, CU Boulder
2014 Kayden Award, CU Boulder
2014 GCAH Travel Grant
2016-17 NEH Next Generation Humanities PhD ($20,000)
2017 Eikones Senior Fellow, Basel (September)
2017 DFG-Forschergruppe BildEvidenz FU Berlin (October-December)
2019 Distinguished Research Lecturer, CU Boulder
2020 Distinguished Lecture, Zurich 2020 (postponed to 2021)
2022 CHA Fellowship (Spring Semester)
Professional Affiliations
Modern Language Association
German Studies Association
American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies
Society for Literature and Science
History of Science Society
Peer Review Duties (Selection)
Reviewer for Stanford University Press, University of Chicago Press, Northwestern University Press, University of Illinois Press, MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, The German Quarterly, Seminar, Palgrave, Schweizerischer National Fonds, DFG, Germanic Review et al.
Final Selection Committee, National Humanities Center, 2000
German American Academic Council Project Committee, 1997
Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, 2009 –
National Humanities Center 2000 –
Advisory Board, „Paradigm“- book series, de Gruyter, 2013 –
MLA Scaglione Prize Committee for best book in German Studies, 2016, 2018.
External Review Committee, German and Comparative Literature Programs, UC Santa Barbara, 2020
National Humanities Center Initial Review
Dissertation Committees
Richard Block, "The Spell of Italy. The Goethe-Effect and the Literary Imagination." (1998)
Cathy Grimm, "Der Mensch—Metapher. Temporality, Identity, and the Concept of Language in the Works of Novalis." (1998)
Martin Klebes, "Remembering Failure. Philosophy and the Form of the Novel: Jacques Roubaud, Ernst-Wilhelm Händler, W.G. Sebald." (2003)
Teresa Ritterhoff, „George Eliot, Gottfried Keller, and the German Tradition." (2007)
Christiane Kuechler, "Die Entdeckung des erotischen Paradieses—Eine Untersuchung der europäischen Südseerezeption im 18. Jahrhundert." (2001)
Colin Benert, "Music within Language, Language within Music: Musico-Poetic Transfigurations around 1800 and 1900." (2002)
Todd Cronan, "Winckelmann and the Formalist Tradition in Art History." (2004)
Christopher Swift, “Nietzsche and the Rhetoric of Rebellion.” (2005)
Markus Hardtmann, “Musil, or the Logic of Fiction” (2009)
Ena Jung, “Inspiration and Technique in Hölderlin and Celan.” (2009)
Greg Flanders, “Solitude and Individuation in late 19th Century Thought.” (2010)
Ross Etherton, “Machine Gun Modernism.” (2018)
Darin Graber “The Flow of Literature” (2018)
Adi Nester “German-Jewish Oratorios” (2020)
University Service (Northwestern University)
Director of Graduate Studies, German Department, 1996 – 1998, 2008 -
WCAS Search committees 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003
WCAS ad hoc committees 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004
Humanities Center Council 1993 – 1998
Program Review Committee (member) 1997
Provost’s Task Force on the Humanities 1998 - 2000
Program Review Committee (Chair) 2000 – 2003
Chapin Dormitory Faculty Fellow 2000 – 2003
Undergraduate Research Grants Committee 2005 - 2007
Dean’s Committee on the Future of the Humanities 2004 - 2005
University Service (CU Boulder)
Kayden Committee 2009 - 2010
Dean’s Advisory Committee, College of Music 2009
Dean’s Advisory Committee, Library, 2010
Co-chair, GCAH 2010 - 2019
Board, CU Arts Museum 2010
Executive Committee, GSLL, 2010-2012, 2023 -
GSLL Peer Evaluation Committee 2011-2012, 2019-
A&S Dean Search Committee, 2011
VCAC 2012 – 2019
CMCI Dean Search Committee, 2014 – 2015
International Partnership Review Committee 2019
Provost Advisory Committee and Salary Equity Appeals 2020 – 2023
College of Arts & Sciences Personnel Committee 2021 - 2023