Amir Eshel

 

Associate Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature

 

 

Department of German Studies                                                         197 Thompson Square

Stanford University                                                                           Mountain View, CA 94043

Stanford, CA 94305-2030                                                                 Tel. (650) 966-1054
Tel. (650) 723-0413                                                                          eshel@stanford.edu

Fax (650) 725-8421

 

 

I.         EDUCATION

 

1998              Ph.D. German Literature, summa cum laude, with distinction, Universität Hamburg

1994               M.A. German Literature and Philosophy, with honors, Universität Hamburg

 

II.        Employment

 

2002-             Stanford University, Associate Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature, with tenure

1999-2002      Stanford University, Assistant Professor of German Studies

1998-1999      Stanford University, Acting Assistant Professor of German Studies

1995-1998      Universität Hamburg, Teaching Assistant

 

 

III.      Teaching experience

 

Courses Developed and Taught

 

Ø The Stakes of Narrative (In English, Graduate, co-taught with Hayden White)

Ø   Present Pasts: History, Fiction, Temporality (In English, Graduate, co-taught with Hayden White)

Ø History and Memory in Germany, Austria, and Israel (In English, Senior/Graduate)

Ø      Modernism in Europe and the Jewish Voice (In English, Graduate)

Ø      German Words, Jewish Voices: German Jewish Literature (In English, Undergraduate/ Graduate)

Ø      Holocaust and Literature (In English, Senior/Graduate)

Ø      “1968” and beyond: German Literature before and after the Students’ Revolt (In German, Graduate)

Ø      German Romanticism (In German Senior/Graduate)

Ø      Modern German Poetry (In German, Graduate)

Ø      Colloquium on the Contemporary German Novel (In German, Graduate)

Ø      Berlin: The City as Body, the City as Metaphor (In English, Senior/Graduate)

Ø      Myth and Modernity (In English, Freshman Seminar in Stanford University’s Introduction to the Humanities program)

 

IV.       Scholarship 

 

1. Authored BOOK

 

Zeit der Zäsur. Jüdische Lyriker im Angesicht der Shoah. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Heidelberg C. Winter, 1999

 

            2. Current Book Project

 

Narratives of History: Historical Narratives and Political Discourse in Contemporary Germany, Austria, and Israel

 

3. Edited Volumes

 

Special issue of Modernism/modernity, ed.: Modernism and the Jewish Voice (Forthcoming, issue 13.4 [November 2006])

 

Special issue of New German Critique, 91 (Winter, 2004), co-edited with Ulrich Baer: Paul Celan.

 

Special issue of The Germanic Review, 4 (Fall 2002), ed.: Aspects of the Present: Contemporary German Culture.

 

Special issue of The German Quarterly, 74.4 (Fall 2001), co-edited with Karen Remmler: Sites of Memory.

 

Special issue of The Germanic Review, 2 (Spring 2000), ed.: Schreiben auf Jüdisch? Writing in Jewish? German Jewish writers and the question of “Jewish Writing.”

 

4. ARTICLES

 

Paul Celan’s Other: History, Poetics, and Ethics. Special issue of New German Critique, 91 (Winter 2004), co-edited with Ulrich Baer: Paul Celan. 57-77. (PDF)

 

Introduction to special issue of New German Critique, 91 (Winter 2004), co-edited with Ulrich Baer: Paul Celan. (PDF)

 

Against the power of time: the poetics of suspension in W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz. In: New German Critique Number 88 (Winter 2003): 71-96.

 

Between Cosmos and Makom. Inhabiting the World and Searching for the Sacred Space in Jewish Literature. Jewish Social Studies 9.3 (2003): 121-138.

 

Blumen der Geschichte, Blumen der Erinnerung: Paul Celan und der postmoderne Diskurs. In: Frank Stern and Maria Gierlinger, eds. Die deutsch-jüdische Erfahrung. Beiträge zum kulturellen Dialog. Berlin: Aufbau, 2003. 129-146.

 

Vom wahren Weg. Eine Respondenz zu Christoph König, Aufklärungskulturgeschichte: Bemerkungen zu Judentum, Philologie und Goethe bei Ludwig Geiger. In: Stephen Dowden and Meike Werner, eds. German Literature, Jewish Critics: The Brandeis Symposium. Rochester, NY: Camden, 2002. 79-86.

 

The Past Recaptured: Günter Grass and Alexander Kluge at the turn of the Century. In: Paul Michael Lützeler, ed. Gegenwartsliteratur. Yearbook on Contemporary German Literature 1 (2002):  63-86.

 

Introduction to special issue of The Germanic Review: Aspects of the Present: Contemporary German Culture 4 (Fall 2002): 259-263.

 

Von Kafka zu Celan: Deutsch-Jüdische Schriftsteller und ihr Verhältnis zum Hebräischen und Jiddischen. In: Michael Brenner, ed. Jüdische Sprachen in deutscher Umwelt: Hebräisch und Jiddisch von der Aufklärung bis ins 20. Jahrhundert. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2002. 96-127.

 

Diverging Memories? Durs Grünbein's Mnemonic Topographies and the Future of the German Past. The German Quarterly 74.4 (Fall 2001): 407-16.

 

 “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain”: Reflections on Judaism and Aesthetics. Filosofia Politica 3.2 (2001): 166-176. German translation: “Täuschende Anmut, eitle Schönheit”: Über Judentum und Ästhetik. Merkur 634 (February 2002): 162-168.

 

Die Grammatik des Verlusts: Verlorene Kinder, verlorene Zeit in Barbara Honigmanns „Soharas Reise“ und in Hans-Ulrich Treichels „Der Verlorene“. In: Hartmut Steinecke and Sander Gilman, eds. Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie: Deutsch-jüdische Literatur der neunziger Jahre: Die Generation nach der Shoah. Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 2002. 59-74.

 

Jewish Memories, German Futures: Recent Debates in Germany about the Past. Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, Paul Lecture 2000. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2001. 1-23.

 

Eternal Present: Poetical Figuration and Cultural Memory in the Poetry of Yehuda Amichai, Dan Pagis and Tuvia Rübner. Jewish Social Studies 7.1 (2001): 141-166.

 

Aporias of Time: A Rhetorical Figure in the Poetry of Jewish Authors after the Shoah. In: Elrud Ibsch, ed. The Conscience of Humankind: Literature and Traumatic Experiences. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000. 25-36.

 

Vom eigenen Gewissen: Die Walser-Bubis Debatte und der Ort des Nationalsozialismus im Selbstbild der Bundesrepublik. Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte 2 (Juni 2000): 333-360.

 

Schreiben auf Jüdisch? Writing in Jewish? Introduction to special issue of The Germanic Review: Schreiben auf Jüdisch? Writing in Jewish? German Jewish writers and the question of “Jewish Writing.” 2 (Spring 2000): 91-98.

 

Das Gedicht im Angesicht. Jüdische Lyriker und die Shoah. Merkur 600 (March 1999): 358-366.

 

Der Wortlaut der Erinnerung. Christoph Ransmayrs Morbus Kitahara. In: Stephan Braese, ed. In der Sprache der Täter. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998. 227-255.

 

Die hohle Sprache. Die Debatte um George Steiners Das hohle Wunder. In: Holger Gehle, Doron Kiesel, Hanno Loewy, Stephan Braese, eds. Deutsche Nachkriegsliteratur und der Holocaust. Frankfurt am Main/New York: Campus, 1998. 317-330.

 

Zur Topographie der Herkunft in der Lyrik von Dan Pagis und Paul Celan (with Thomas Sparr). In: Mark H. Gelber, Hans Otto Horch, Sigrud Paul Scheichl, eds. Von Franzos zu Canetti. Jüdische Autoren aus Österreich. Neue Studien. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996. 115-128.

 

Negative Symbiose? Das Verhältnis zwischen Deutschen und Juden in zwei modernen Grotesken (with Stephan Braese). Mittelweg 36. Zeitschrift des Hamburger Instituts für Sozialforschung 5 (August-September 1995): 57-63.

 

Zug der Tage. In: David Vogel, ed. Das Ende der Tage. Tagebücher und autobiographische Aufzeichnungen 1912-1922 und 1941-1942. München/Leipzig: List, 1995. 7-17.

 

Zeit der Zäsur. Über Dan Pagis und Paul Celan. Jüdischer Almanach des Leo Baeck Instituts 1995. Frankfurt am Main, 1994. 37-48.

 

Auschwitz als Metapher. Zu Jakob Hessings Gedichte nach Auschwitz. Merkur 530 (Mai 1993): 462-464.

 

Auschwitz und seine Metaphern. Mittelweg 36. Zeitschrift des Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung 5 (Oktober/November 1993): 81-88.

 

Gertrud Kolmars Leben und Werk. Die Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte 8 (August 1993): 762-763.

 

Metamorphosen eines Mythos. Befunde ausgehend von Chawas Gedenkgebet in David Schütz Gras und Sand. In: Loccumer Protokolle 52/93. Gegenwart im Licht der Geschichte. Autorentagung zur israelischen Literatur mit Aharon Megged und David Schütz. Rehburg-Loccum, 1993. 59-68.

 

Celan in Israel (with Thomas Sparr). Celan-Jahrbuch 4 (1991). Heidelberg, 1992. 187-200.

 

 

5. FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS

 

                 פולמוס וולזר - בוביס ומקומו של הנציונל-סוציאליזם בדימוי העצמי של הרפובליקה הפדרלית. יפעת וייס וגלעד   מרגלית (עורכים), זיכרון ושיכחה.         

          

6. Reviews and Translations

 

Adrian Del Caro and Janet Ward, eds. German Studies in the Post-Holocaust Age: The Politics of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity. South Central Review 19.4-20.1 (Winter 2002-Spring 2003): 142-144. 

 

Henry A. Lea, Wolfgang Hildesheimers Weg als Jude und Deutscher. German Studies Review 25.1 (February 2002): 193-194.

 

The Riddle of the Mirrors. Haim Lapid’s The Crime of Writing. Modern Hebrew Literature 23 (Fall/Winter 1999-2000): 41-43.

 

Der Rest bleibt. Aufsätze zum Judentum. Band 4 der Werkeausgabe in neun Bänden von Hermann Levin Goldschmidt. Willi Goetschel (ed.). The Germanic Review 73.4 (Fall 1998): 370-374.

 

Natan Zach. A Selection of poetry from his Oeuvre. Akzente 1 (February 1999): 70-78.

 

Listening to Body Language. Shai Tubali: Body Language. Modern Hebrew Literature 19 (Fall/Winter 1997): 32-33.

 

The Roots of the Cult of Vengeance Lie Deep in the Land, Yoram Kaniuks Tigerhil. Modern Hebrew Literature 17 (Fall/Winter 1996): 9-10.

 

Der Fall Hebräisch. Zu einem Buch von Benjamin Harshav. Merkur 567 (Juni 1996): 538-541.

 

Amos Funkenstein. Jüdische Geschichte und ihre Deutungen. Mittelweg 36. Zeitschrift des Hamburger Instituts für Sozialforschung 4 (August/September 1995): 62-63.

 

Im versiegelten Waggon. Die lakonischen Gedichte des hebräischen Lyrikers Dan Pagis. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Donnerstag, 29 September 1994.

 

Who Lies in Darkness, who in Light? Yitzhak Laors The People, Food for the Kings. Modern Hebrew Literature 13 (Fall/Winter 1994): 11-14.

 

Wie Adolf Hitler zu „Mister Chairman“ wurde. Ein kleiner Beitrag zur Ikonographie des Bösen. Mittelweg 36. Zeitschrift des Hamburger Instituts für Sozialforschung 2 (April/Mai 1994): 27-30.

 

Emil Habibi. Die Neue Gesellschaft / Frankfurter Hefte 10 (Oktober 1993): 927.

 

Anwesende Abwesende oder Der Versuch, die eigenen Landsleute kennenzulernen. David Grossmans Der geteilte Israeli. Neue Zeit, 20 November 1992.

 

7. Conferences, LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS

 

Keynote: „Writing the Unsaid: Israeli Prose and the question of Palestinian flight and expulsion. The annual convention of The National Association of Professors of Hebrew, Stanford University, June 19-21, 2005.

 

Invited lecture: “Der Streit über Schrift und Raum in der Hebräischen Gegenwartsliteratur, Department of History, Chair of Jewish History and Culture, University of Munich, May 31, 2005.  

 

Invited lecture: “Narratives of History: Alexander Kluge, W. G. Sebald, and Katharina Hacker,” Deutsches Haus, Columbia University, April 7, 2005.

 

“Marked Spaces, Telling Times in Israeli and German Literature and Landscapes,” Ruins of Modernity, An international conference at the University of Michigan, March 17-19, 2005.

 

Invited lecture: „Writing the Unsaid: Israeli Prose and the question of Palestinian flight and expulsion, The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, February 22, 2005.

 

Invited lecture: „Lyrik unmittelbar zur Shoah?“ Lyriktage zu Paul Celan, Schloß Elmau, 9-13 February, 2005.

 

Barbara Honigmann's German-Jewish Topographies. Special panel, Topographies and Traditions: Jewish and German Identities in Contemporary German Studies. Modern Language Association of America, San Diego, December 2003.

 

Invited lecture: Against the power of time: W. G. Sebald’s Poetics of Suspension. Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, November 6, 2003. 

 

Layered Time: Ruins as Lacunas and as Presence in Israeli and German Landscapes. Special session (co-organized with Julia Hell), Ruins of Modernity.  XXVI Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Washington, D.C., October 2001.

 

Invited lecture: Hermann Levin Goldschmidt and the Ethical Dimension of Literature. Annual Hermann Levin Goldschmidt Memorial Lecture for 2003, The University of Toronto, April 2003.

 

Member, panel discussion on German-Jewish literature. Tarbut 2003: Zweiter jüdischer Kulturkongress: Juden in der europäischen Literatur: Innen- und Außenperspektiven, Schloß Elmau, Germany, May 2003.

 

W. G. Sebald’s Narratives of History. Narrative—An International Conference, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, March 27-29, 2003.

 

Making Sense of History: Günter Grass’s My Century. Special panel, Günter Grass. Modern Language Association of America, New York, December 2002 (declined due to an emergency).

 

On Clocks, Diaries, and Ruins: W. G. Sebald and the Aesthetic of Melancholy. Special session (co-organized with Julia Hell), Imagining Catastrophe: German Culture before and after 1945. XXVI Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, San Diego, October 2002.

 

How Jewish is German Studies? Special session (co-organized with Y. Michal Bodemann) under the same title. XXVI Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, San Diego, October 2002.

 

The Content of the Form: Günter Grass and Alexander Kluge. International Conference: German 20th-Century History as Reflected in German-Language Literature, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, June 9-11, 2002. (Declined)

 

The Poetics of Space in the Work of Robert Schindel and Barbara Honigmann. International Conference: Der Ort des Judentums in der Gegenwart: Zur räumlichen Dimension jüdischen Lebens und jüdischer Erfahrung, 1989-2002, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, June 2-4, 2002. (Declined)

 

Paul Celan’s Poetics. Spring Conference of the 2001-2002 Sawyer Seminar at the University of Chicago, The Range of Contemporary Literacy: The Circulation of Poetry. The Poetry and Poetics of Paul Celan, May 23, 2002.

 

Beyond “Thematic” and “Form”: Rethinking Contemporary German-Jewish Literature. XXV Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Washington D. C., October 2001.

 

The Past Recaptured: Günter Grass and Alexander Kluge at the Turn of the Century. XXV Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Washington D. C., October 2001.

 

Between Cosmos and Makom: Inhabiting the World and Searching for the Sacred Space in Jewish Literature. International Conference: Jews as Cosmopolitans: Stereotype, Denunciation, Ideal, Schloss Elmau, Germany, July 15-18 2001.

 

Diverging memories? Intertwining Historical Narratives in Post-1989 German Culture. Session three—Diverging Memories—in the special panel series, Sites of Memory. Modern Language Association of America, Washington D.C., December 2000.

 

Unfolding Today in Yesterday's Words: Jewish Poets and the Archives of Tradition. Modern Language Association of America, Washington D.C., December 2000.

 

Die Masken des Naiven: Barbara Honigmanns Suche nach wahrem Sprechen. International Conference on Contemporary German-Jewish Literature organized by the German-American Academic Council, University of Chicago (Department of German) and the University of Paderborn, Berlin, November 26-29, 2000.

 

Invited lecture: Jüdische Lyrik nach der Shoah: Yehuda Amichai, Paul Celan und die Poetik der Erinnerung. University of Munich, November 30, 2000.