Author Archives: Nina Schweppe

John Evjen

PhD Candidate Contact info jm.evjen@mail.utoronto.ca Office University of Toronto Odette Hall Rm 311 50 St. Joseph Street Toronto, ON M5S 3L5 Office Hours TBA Classes 2022-2023 GER100Y, Fall & Winter Background John is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on relationships between humans and other animals in contemporary German fiction and the implications for literature resultant of these relationships. Since completing his MA at the University of Toronto, John has been involved in many capacities at uToronto such as the Graduate Education Council, Graduate Academic Appeals Board, and German and Yiddish Graduate Student Association. Apart from the academy, John spends his spare time with his dog and wife, mixing music, and reading poetry. Read More »

André Flicker

Ph.D candidate Contact info andre.flicker@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours By appointment Classes 2023 Winter GER300 Intermediate German II Summer GER100 Beginners German Fall GER300 Intermediate German II GER400 Advanced German BackgroundStaatsexamen (Philosophie, Germanistik) Universität Mannheim, Germany, 2016 Master of Arts, University of Victoria, Canada, 2018. Review Editor The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture Theory Research Interests: I would describe myself as genuinely curious, which is mirrored in the research I’ve been doing throughout my studies. Starting from my interest in short prose and its usage of narrative space and narration of space to dramaturgies of silence, the common thread of my research is the work of language and our reflective engagement with language as work. In my dissertation I examine forms of Unsinn (non-sense) as last resorts for subjectivity. My focus is on early 20th century Dadaists of Zurich and Berlin and their exploration of subjectivity in traditional art forms and new media. Based on Dada’s provocation of the absence of sense produced in their intermedia works, I argue that Unsinn as an aesthetic mode is a dynamic movement that curates both drives at work in acts of mediating our surroundings: sense and the sensual. Dada’s Unsinn problematizes meaning and its constitution by ... Read More »

Maria Harutyunyan

PhD student Contact info maria.harutyunyan@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours Tue and Thur 12-1 pm Classes 2020-2021 GER100 Background I completed my hon. Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Toronto with a major in Sociology and a minor in German and French. In 2020, I completed my MA in Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. As a current PhD student in Germanic Literature, Culture and Theory, my main focus is on environmental humanities. Aside from literature, my interests also lie in the field of visual arts and acquiring languages. My spoken languages include: German, English, French and Armenian. Teaching Positions Course Instructor, Introduction to German, University of Toronto, 2019 Awards & Scholarships Angela Hildyard Award for Academic Excellence, 2016-2018 Thomas & Beverley Simpson Graduate Achievement Award For Single Parents, 2019 Institutional Services Advisor, U of T Family Care Office Advisory Committee, 2018- 2019 Read More »