Department Events

Prize-winning Austrian novelist Andrea Grill to read at Wesleyan

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The German Studies Department and the Shapiro Creative Writing Center invite you to meet Andrea Grill on Monday, February 21, 2011, at 4:30 p.m. in Downey House Lounge. Come listen to her stories and participate in the discussion to follow.

Andrea Grill will read from her latest novel Das Schöne und das Notwendige (Beauty and Necessity), and other stories in German and English.

In her latest novel, published in 2010, Andrea Grill discovers a new aesthetic for transnational capitalism. In her story two poor but clever friends have an idea how to turn “straw into gold.” Their scheme has only one problem, they need an Asian civet cat. But where can they find one, and will it survive in a small apartment on the fifth floor?

Andrea Grill was born in Bad Ischl in 1975 and studied in Salzburg before earning her doctorate in Biology at the University of Amsterdam with a dissertation on “The Evolution of Butterflies Endemic to Sardinia.” She writes prose, poems and essays and translates from Albanian. In 2010, she was a Max Kade Scholar at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

German Movie Night

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On October 3, Germany celebrates its 20th year of reunification. In order to remember this historic date, we are showing director Wolfgang Becker’s social satire Good Bye Lenin.

Join us on Monday, October 4 at 7:00 PM  in Fisk 413.

Sommerfest – Celebrating the End of the Academic Year

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On May 8, we came together to honor our students and to celebrate the end of the academic year.

Here are some pictures:

Heather Stanton ’10, who is about to graduate with a double major in History and German Studies, presents her Honor-Thesis “Where German Hearts are Molded: Historical Memory and State Legitimation in the German Democratic Republic, 1945-1989.”

The chair of the German Studies department Leo Lensing awards prizes to our students:Linnea Damer ’10 won the Scott Prize, Heather Stanton ’10 won the Prentice Prize, and James Gardner ’13, Matt Alexander ’12, and Katherine Wolf ’12 the Blankenagel Prize. Adam Rashkoff ’13, Adrian Rothschild ’12, and Catherine Doren ’13 received the annual Book Prize presented by the Department of behalf of the German Consulate in Boston.

Iris Bork-Goldfield was honored for being an enthusiastic teacher, a great thesis-advsisor for Heather Stanton’s Honor Thesis, and not at least a wonderful colleague.

From left: Helen Reeve, Jerry Wensinger, and our colleague and Dean of the Arts and Sciences, Krishna Winston; in the background: Matthew Alexander.

From left: our students Anya Olsen and Catherine Doren, in the background: Matthew Alexander.

And now, we wish our seniors a wonderful and happy commencement, and everyone a joyful and sunny summer!!!

Soldiers, Gramophones, And Other Stories: Author Saša Stanišić reads at Wesleyan

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sasaposter_3.inddThe German Studies Department and the Center for the Humanities invite you to meet Bosnian-born German writer Saša Stanišić, who will read from his novel, How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, a very pictorial and linguistically inventive novel about the Balkan wars seen through the eyes of 14-year-old Aleksander, who has fled from the Bosnian town of Višegrad to Germany. In addition, Saša will present his latest works, accompanied by a lyrical photo essay. He will read in German and English.

The event will take place Thursday, April 1, at 5:00 p.m. at Russell House. Reception to follow.

For further information contact Iris Bork-Goldfield at ibork@wesleyan.edu