Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto

MA Student Contact c.bruni@alum.utoronto.ca Read More »

PhD Student Contact florian.mueller@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours Fri 10:30 – 11:30 am–12 pm, and by appointment Classes 2021-22 tba Background I did my undergraduate in German Studies and History at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt (Main) where I also received my master’s degree in German Studies in 2019. My doctoral research focuses on medieval and Early Modern German literature and I am especially interested in the relationship between early print and manuscript culture. Accordingly, I am enrolled in the collaborative program in Book History and Print Culture. In order to investigate how materiality informs the construction of text and vice versa, I am examining the 15th and 16th century manuscripts and printed editions comprising the so-called ‘Books of Heroes.’ This corpus transmits heroic poetry, a genre with a rich and multi-faceted literary history. Due to their seemingly dated nature – stanzaic form and archaic contents – the ‘Books of Heroes’ provide rich material for questions concerning transmission and canon formation, the dissemination of literature in the Early Modern period, the aesthetics of reception, and the materiality of texts. Since hands-on experience in letterpress printing is of immense value for my research, I am excited to be currently working as a ... Read More »

Ph.D. Candidate Contact laurence.cote.pitre@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours M/W 5:00-6:00 pm (on zoom) Classes 2022-23 GER200Y1 LEC5101 (online) – M/W 6:00-8:00 pm Background Originally from Quebec City, I studied languages (English, German and Spanish) in my hometown at Cégep Limoilou from 2010 to 2012 (DEC Arts et Lettres, profil Langues Modernes). I received my H.BA. from the University of Toronto in German Studies and European Studies in June 2016, after spending a year at the Karl-Franzens Universität in Graz, Austria as an exchange student in 2013-14. I graduated from my M.A. in German from the University of Toronto in November 2017. My major research paper focused on the underground poetry of the Prenzlauer Berg Connection in the 1980s. My current research interest involves ecocriticism and environmental discourses in German literature. My dissertation focuses on post-Chernobyl and Anthropocene discourses in women literature from East and West Germany. Aside from academics, I enjoy knitting, gardening, and I recently discovered the fascinating world of photography! 🙂 Conference Papers “Writing the Anthropocene: German Literature after Chernobyl” (poster presentation) Canadian Association of University Teachers of German Conference. University of Alberta. May-June 2021. “Landschaft als Quelle: Wie kann man Feldforschung in literarische Analyse integrieren?” Internationales Forschungsnetzwerk Literatur im ... Read More »

Ph.D. Candidate Contact veronica.curran@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours Mon & Wed 1-2 (virtual appointment) Classes 2020-21 Ger 100 MW 11am- 1pm Background I hold a B.A. Honours (2012) in German and Early Modern Studies from the University of King's College, Halifax and an M.A. (2015) in German from Dalhousie University. I spent the 2012-2013 academic year in Hessen, Germany with the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst as an English teaching assistant in a German-speaking Gymnasium. I also spent two summers (2013 and 2014) studying as an exchange student at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. My research interest involves the development of German theater. I am particularly interested in the Sturm und Drang period writers in the 1770s and the developments leading up to Georg Büchner's career in the 1830s. Within the area of theater studies and German literature, I am interested in the development of discussions of morality and questions of genre, such as the classic distinctions of "comedy" and "tragedy". Publications and Conferences “Obedience and Freedom in the Plays of J.M.R. Lenz.” Oxford German Studies. Special Edition. September 2021. “‘Ohne Freiheit geht das Leben bergab rückwärts’: On Freedom, Society, and Morality in J.M.R. Lenz’s Der Hofmeister.” Canadian Association of University Teachers of German Conference at the Congress ... Read More »

Course Instructor Contact ran.deng@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours tba Classes 2021-22 tba Read More »

PhD student Contact info tba Office Hours tba Classes 2020-2021 tba Background Sophie Edelhart (they/she) holds a B.A. in History with a Concentration in Gender, Sex, and Family from Barnard College (2019) and an M.A. in Yiddish from University of Toronto (2021). They are currently pursuing their PhD in Yiddish in the Germanic Languages and Literature Department with a collaborative specialization in Book History and Print Culture. Their research focuses on Yiddish folk music, material culture, recording technology, Yiddish radio, and audiovisual archives. They are a member of the 2020-2022 Helix Fellowship cohort and a recipient of the Barbara Wertheimer Prize for Undergraduate Labor History from the New York Labor History Association for their senior history thesis entitled, “Bad Girls Like Good Contracts”: The Fight for Unionization at the Lusty Lady Theater in San Francisco, 1992-1998. Outside of school, they have worked as a tour guide, archivist, researcher, and translator at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Yiddish Book Center, and Museum at Eldridge Street. They are also a singer, currently studying Yiddish folk song under the tutelage of Ethel Raim as well as a bookbinding hobbyist. Read More »

Course Instructor Contact info walker.horsfall@mail.utoronto.ca Office Hours Tue &Thu 4-5 in Kelly Library Café Read More »

PhD Student I received my MA in Yiddish Studies from the University of Toronto in 2020, with a focus on the work of Soviet Yiddish playwright Moyshe Pintshevski during the Second World War. I’m happy to be back for more Yiddish and am currently working toward my PhD under the supervision of Dr. Anna Shternshis. I’m interested in experiences of disability and illness among Yiddish-speaking Jews in the early and mid twentieth century. I have a strong interest in translation and enjoy working as a Yiddish-to-English translator of literary texts as well as personal documents. I also love to teach and have really appreciated the chance to work with the amazing group of Yiddish learners at UofT. If you’re reading this because you’re considering taking Yiddish, please join us; you won’t regret it! Outside of Yiddish-related stuff, I’m into fibre arts, cats, and eating (and sometimes making) baked goods. Contact eli.jany@mail.utoronto.ca Classes 2020-21 GER 260 Elementary Yiddish (fall term) Office Hours Fri 11-12pm and by appointment Academic BackgroundMA in Yiddish, University of Toronto, 2020 MSW, University of Toronto, 2019 Honours BSc in Biology, McMaster University, 2015 PublicationsLeshchinsky, Yankev. The Last Years of Polish Jewry, Volume 1: At the Edge of ... Read More »

PhD student Office hours Tuesdays 10-10.30am and Fridays 2.30-4pm in CR 103 Contact info sophie.jordan@mail.utoronto.ca Background My research currently focuses on late medieval understandings of cultural mixedness under Ottoman rule. As the Ottoman empire expanded Westwards across part of the Balkans, new socio-cultural identities were shaped which left an undeniable mark on this region. I am analysing the attempts of German-speaking travellers to describe the population groups which emerged in this way during the 15th and 16th centuries. Reflecting on what they saw and relating it to the religious and political turmoil underway in the Holy Roman Empire, these travellers’ accounts offer a rare insight into the involved process of rethinking foreign identities. I completed my B.A. and M.St. in German at the University of Oxford, with a year studying at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg. My M.St. dissertation engaged with the debate on pre-modern concepts of race, by looking at blackness as a factor of integration at the court of King Arthur in the Middle Dutch romance Moriaen. I also hold an M.A. in Social Anthropology from the University of Manchester, which allowed me to broaden my disciplinary and methodological horizons. Continuing my work on the perception of difference, I ... Read More »

MA Student Contact tba Read More »