Veronica Rose Curran

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 of the Humanities & Social Sciences, May 29-June 1, 2021. Online Format.
  • "Gehorsamkeit und Freiheit in Die Soldaten von J.M.R. Lenz." Internationales und Interdisziplinäres Doktorand*innenkolloquium. Universität Heidelberg. Online Format. Juli 2020.
  • "Hero or Anti-hero?: Galileo’s deviating deviance in Brecht’s 1938 and 1945 plays." Deviance 'Am Rande seiner selbst': German Graduate Conference. University of Toronto. September 2019.
  • "Brecht, Galileo, and the Scientific Imperative in Art." Academic Musings: the legacy of the Euro-Méditerranée. Underhill Books, 2019.
  • "Moral Authority in Lenz's Theory of Theater." Departmental Lecture Series. Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. University of Toronto. March 2019.
  • "The Character makes the Tragedy: J.M.R. Lenz on redefining the terms of the Theater." Instantiations of Tragedy Workshop. University of Toronto. September 2017.
  • "Tragedy, Morality, and the Sturm und Drang." The Frankfurt-Toronto Collaborative Graduate Workshop. University of Toronto. October 2017.
  • “Aestheticism and Ethics, Friends or Foes? A discussion of the role of morality in Robert Musil’s Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß” · Canadian Association of University Teachers of German Conference. Ryerson University. May 30, 2017
  • “Novalis and the Jena Romantics” Early Modern Studies Conference. University of King’s College 2014
  • “Neoclassicism and 18th Century Opera Reform.” Babel. Vol. 10. Halifax: University of King’s College 2011

Awards

  • Goethe Society of North America: Gloria Flaherty Scholarship, Oct 2020 (Awarded to participants of the 2020 Atkins Conference Goethezeit Dissertation Workshop)
  • SGS Research Travel Grant, 2019-2020
  • JIGES Research Travel Grant, 2019-2020
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award 2018
  • Faculty of Arts and Science Top Fellowship: University of Toronto 2016
  • SSHRC: Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement 2014
  • SSHRC: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships, Master’s 2013/2014