Academic Events

Elisabeth Lauffer, ‘07 to speak at WesFest

by

Liz double majored in COL and German Studies. She spent her sophomore spring semester in Regensburg,
Germany. Her senior thesis was the translation of Russian émigré humorist Vladimir Kaminer’s The Trip to Trulala, which she completed under the mentorship of Professor Krishna Winston. Liz then moved to Germany, where she spent a year at Hamburg University through a DAAD Study Scholarship, before relocating to Berlin.
In 2011, Liz returned to the States to complete her Master’s in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Since then, she has dabbled in various educational pursuits (including teaching in and directing the Middlebury Interactive Summer German Academy) and committed herself to literary translation. In 2014, Liz was awarded the Gutekunst Prize for Emerging Translators through the Goethe Institute New York. In 2016, her first full-length book translation, Animal Internet by Alexander Pschera, was published with New Vessel Press. Liz is currently under contract for two titles with the MIT Press and works as Production Editor at Chooseco, publishers of the Choose Your Own Adventure children’s book series.

Screen Shot 2017-05-16 at 2.40.24 PM

“Second Class Refugees”: The Struggles of Lesser-Known German Jewish Writers in the U.S.

by


Screen Shot 2016-10-26 at 12.53.53 PM

xxxxx

Professor Krishna Winston’s talk “Second Class Refugees”: The Struggles of Lesser-Known German Jewish Writers in the U.S.  is the second event in our series “Germany Meets the U.S.” and will take place Wednesday, October 5th, from 4:30-5:30 p.m., in Fisk 208. Refreshments will be served.

Professor Winston will talk about German Jewish writers who had been quite well known in Germany but who struggled to establish themselves professionally when they emigrated to the U.S. and thus endured great economic and emotional hardship. Among them are Mehring, Hans Sahl, Curt Riess, and Heinrich Eduard Jacob. Her parents, the distinguished translators Richard and Clara Winston, knew these authors personally and translated their works into English. Krishna will draw on her collection of letters exchanged between these refugees and her parents as well as on her own memories.

“The Wallpeckers” Professor Krishna Winston introduces Günter Grass’s novel “Too Far Afield”

by

imgres

……..

Please join us for our  fourth and last lecture in the German Department’s fall series on commemorating the 25th year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, this Thursday, November 6, in the Downey House Lounge at 4:15 PM. In her talk, “The Wallpeckers,”  Krishna Winston introduces and reads from Günter Grass’s novel, Too Far Afield.

Refreshments will be served.

NPR -Journalist Bellamy Pailthorp ’89 will speak about “The Fall of the Wall — An Eyewitness Perspective.”

by
Screen Shot 2014-10-24 at 2.37.03 PM
Bellamy Pailthorp ’89 is a news reporter in Seattle with KPLU Public Radio, one of the leading NPR stations in the Pacific Northwest. She graduated from Wesleyan with High Honors in German Language and Literature in the spring of 1989. She went to Berlin on a Fulbright scholarship that September, to pursue a project on dramaturgy and Bertolt Brecht. Little did she know she would end up working as an interpreter for journalists during the fall of the wall – an unforgettable experience that led to her career as a broadcaster. She lived in Berlin from 1989-1998, eventually working as a TV producer at Deutsche Welle TV and freelancing for other outlets. She now covers the environment beat at KPLU. In this talk, she will share anecdotes about her experience in Berlin before, during and after the fall of the wall.

“25 Years: Fall of the Berlin Wall” is co-sponsored by the German Embassy in Washington D.C. All events are free of charge and open to the public. For more information call 860-685-3359.

Sarah Wiliarty will speak on The Fall of the Wall – A Political Perspective

by

Please join us for the  first lecture in the German Department’s fall series on commemorating the 25th Year of the Fall of the Berlin
Wall.

This Wednesday, October 15 in FISK 210 at noon, Prof. Sarah Wiliarty will speak on “ The Fall of the Berlin Wall – A Political Perspective.”

Refreshments will be served.

“25 Years: Fall of the Berlin Wall” is co-sponsored by the German Studies Department and the German Embassy in Washington D.C. All events are free of charge and open to the public. For more information call 860-685-3359.

Hannah Arendt, directed bu Margarethe von Trotta

by

Hannah

Please join us for the screening of Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta.

September 27, 8:00 p.m. at the Goldsmith Family Cinema

Introduction by Leo Lensing (Professor of German and Film Studies), followed by a Q&A with Pam Katz P ’16, the film’s co-screenwriter

 

A second screening will take place on September 28, at 10:00 a.m. at the Powell Family Cinema.

Exercising Judgment in Ethics, Politics, and the Law

by

arendtconference

Wesleyan University is hosting a conference on Hannah Arendt on September 26-28, 2013. The conference is made possible by the generous support of David Rhodes, COL ’68. It is hosted by the Center for the Humanities and co-sponsored by the College of Letters; Jewish and Israel Studies; German Studies; Government; Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory; and the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service).

Uli Plass is moderating the session on Judging Evil on September 27, 4:00-6:00 p.m. in Bechkam Hall.

Leo Lensing is introducing the the film Hannah Arendt, directed by Margarethe von Trotta on September 27, 8:00 p.m.

Conference Program 

More Information about the conference

Peter Handke in America

by

Friday, December 7th, 6:30 p.m. Deutsches Haus at New York University, 42 Washington Mews New York, NY 10003

Please join the German House in New York City for a discussion with Fatima Naqvi (Rutgers University), Christoph Bartmann (Goethe Institut NYC), Klaus Kastberger (University of Vienna), Heike Polster (University of Memphis), Krishna Winston (Wesleyan University), and Thorsten Carstensen (The Indiana University School of Liberal Arts).

Peter Handke in America is an important theme for understanding the writer’s work. Because of his life-long fascination with America, Handke was among the first German-speaking writers of his generation to present a positive image of the United States against the anti-imperialist aversions of the European 1968-movement. Particularly in his early work, scholars have traced his fascination with writers such as John Ford, Walker Percy (whom he also translated), as well as the blues, New York City, the image of the “Native American” and with the beauty of the American landscape. His 1971 novel Short Letter, Long Farewell makes his fascination with the United States the central motif. Handke also lived in New York (after lengthy travels through Alaska), where in 1979 he wrote his important novel The Long Way Round. In his film Three American LPs, he co-produced with Wim Wenders, many of these themes can also be clearly identified. More information

You can watch some of the discussion on Youtube.