Ph.D. University of Colorado, 1973
19th and 20 Centuries, Romanticism, Vormärz, Fin de Siècle, Post 1945 German Literature, German Women's Social and Literary History, Feminist Literary and Cultural Theories, Post-Colonialism
Professor Elke Frederiksen is an internationally known scholar who has lectured and published on issues of German and Austrian literature and culture in Europe, the United States, Canada, China and Japan. Her discovery of an unknown manuscript by the 19th century German-Jewish writer Heinrich Heine in Krakow, Poland, drew attention all over Europe. Her research and teaching interests focus on a variety of aspects in 19th and 20th century German and Austrian literature and culture (e.g. authors such as Bettina von Arnim, Rahel Levin Varnhagen, Heinrich Heine, Franz Grillparzer, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Gabriele Reuter, Luise Rinser, genre studies, letters, travel literature) with emphasis on individual authors such as Bettina von Arnim and Heinrich Heine, on the intersections of women's social and literary history, as well as Cultural Studies including Post-Colonialism. Breaking away from traditional approaches to literature, she has incorporated concepts of gender, class, race, ethnicity, and nationality into both her research and teaching. She received the Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award in 1986/87, and her book edition Women Writers of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (1989) received an "Outstanding Academic Book" award. Professor Frederiksen was also a Distinguished Visiting Professor (Friedrich Kittler Chair) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 1998 and since 2004 has been a Fellow of the Academy for Excellence. Her latest book publication Facing Fascism and Confronting the Past was published in 2000 by SUNY Press.
Recent Publications:
(authored and edited) Die Frauenfrage in Deutschland 1865-1915. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1981. 1994.
"Heinrich Heine und Rahel Levin Varnhagen. Zur Beziehung und Differenz zweier Autoren im frühen 19. Jahrhundert mit einem unbekannten Manuskript von Heine." Heine Jahrbuch 29 (1990): 9-38.
(ed. with Kay Goodman) Bettina Brentano von Armin: Gender and Politics. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1995.
Recent courses taught:
GERM 689/829 What is German Studies?
GERM 829 Heinrich Heine as Outsider: German, Jewish and in Exile
GERM 829 Zur Literatur und Kultur des deutschen Kaiserreiches im späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert
GERM 689/889 Postkolonialismus und deutschsprachige Literatur
Contact Information: (301) 405-4107, E-mail: epf@umd.edu, Office: JMZ 3211
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