Since August 2006 I am a Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt's Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages. In 2008 I passed the Ph.D. qualifying exams, and began to focus on my dissertation: "Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt: Narration in and as Theoretical Writing." I expect to be finished in May 2011. I received my M.A. from the Georg-August University of Göttingen in German Philology (major), History (minor), and Philosophy (minor). My master's thesis is entitled: "'Katastrophe in Permanenz'. Untersuchungen zu Walter Benjamins Passagen-Werk." From 2003 until 2005 I worked on an internet database representing German literary life from 1945 up to the turn of the century. Eventually, I spent one year until 2006 in Berlin at the Freie Universität to further my studies.
I am generally interested in the intersection of literature and philosophy, and focus my studies mainly on 19th and 20th century German literature and thought. - In particular I am examining narrative forms in or as theoretical writing, as it moves self-reflexively towards the cumulation of 'modernity' in the 20th century, and beyond what was conceived as a breach, or gap in tradition. Narrative forms were effected by this crisis, but at the same time seem to offer new possibilities of expression after encountering the break in their tradition. As a result, the subject of my dissertation is an investigation of these topics in the works of Walter Benjamin and Hannah Arendt.
Teaching
Being a TA at Vanderbilt, teaching has become an integral part of my academic activities and interests. Although I am teaching German language classes at the elementary and intermediate level, it is my conviction that my teaching should always reflect my research interests. This is why, at the intermediate level, I decided to teach language by reading (literary) texts. Besides sharing knowledge, this gives me the opportunity to communicate some of my passion for literature, and allows my students to have first hand experience of original contents in the target language.
Current Position
Ph.D. Candidate in German Literature, Vanderbilt University
Dissertation
"Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt: Narration in and as Theoretical Writing"
Presentations
“'Epic Possibilities' in Walter Benjamin's One Way-Street,” Workshop on Walter Benjamin’s One-Way-Street at Vanderbilt University, Spring 2010
“Hannah Arendt: Stories from the Other Side,” Seventh Biennial Graduate Student Conference at Indiana University, February 2009
“Metaphern des Wissens: Konstellation und Mode in den Texten Walter Benjamins und Helen Grunds,” Workshop on “Konstellationen,” Aby Warburg House Hamburg, Germany, June 2008
“Hans Dominik’s technical novels of the future: Future for the masses,” 61st Kentucky Foreign Language Conference at the University of Kentucky, April 2008
“Performance: Odradek,” Group Presentation, Conference on Unanschaulichkeit. Towards an Ethics of Modern Literature, Vanderbilt University, 2007
Awards, Fellowships
Summer Research Award, Vanderbilt University, 2009
Phillip H. Rhein Award of Teaching Excellence, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, Vanderbilt University, Spring 2008
Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 2006 to present
