Jenny Strakovsky is a Ph.D. student in German Studies, specializing in the literature, visual culture, music, and philosophy of the long 19th century in Germany. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in German Studies from Dartmouth College and was the 2009-2010 recipient of a Fulbright Research Grant to attend the Humboldt University in Berlin.
While her background spans from the Enlightenment to Cold War literature, her current work explores the rise of individualism in Realism and High Modernism. She is particularly interested in understanding how literature depicts individual autonomy, education, and ethical responsibility through character development and portrayals of moral judgment.
Her research interests also include: questions of agency, portrayals of artistic genius, legacies of the German Bildungsideal, Jena Romanticism, portrayals of women and gender, ethics and literature, 19th century Visual Culture, Translation studies, Digital Humanities, Humanities Education and Public Policy in post-secondary education.
Upcoming and Recent Presentations
"Revolution as Apocalypse, Poetry as Redemption: Osip Mandelstam’s Cultural Mythology." Modernism, Christianity, and Apocalypse. Conference, Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. (18-20 July 2012)
"Interpreting Kafka's The Trial through Translation: Experimental Pedagogy." Stanford University, German Studies Forum. March 2012.
"Vocation as a Marker of Moral Agency in 19th Century Modernity." ZfL Sommerakademie, “Erste Kulturwissenschaft und ihre Potential für die Gegenwart”* Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin. July 2011
Teaching Experience
At Dartmouth:
Guest Lecturer, "Beyond Good and Evil," Undergraduate Seminar, Dartmouth German Studies Department. Taught By Professor Klaus Mladek. Topic: Christa Wolf's Was Bleibt and Self-censorship in East Germany. Spring 2009
At Stanford:
Instructor/Teaching Assistant. German Language First-Year Sequence* (3 Quarters). Stanford Language Center*
Taught in German. Meets MTWThF. Concentration on Oral Proficiency.
Responsibilities include bringing novice and intermediate speakers to the intermediate-mid level in German; designing pedagogic activities that enable authentic conversational exchange and cultural understanding.
Materials: Textbook Deutsch: Na Klar!, Multimedia (including films, online videos, poetry, journalism, native speaker interviews, web content).
Assessment: computerized oral and written exams. Oral Proficiency Interview (based on National Standards on Foreign Language Learning*).
Instructor. Beginner German Conversation. Taught in German. Meets once per week. Responsibilities include designing syllabus based on student interests, facilitating improvement for students of different levels and backgrounds. Haus Mitteleuropa, Stanford University. Spring 2011.
Tutor, Language and Orientation Tutoring Program (LOT)* Individual weekly meetings with international students to improve conversational abilities, writing and presentation skills, and cultural literacy in English. Spring 2011
Professional Activities
Co-Founder and Coordinator, DLCL Graduate Working Group on Translation Studies, Stanford University. Spring 2012
Steering Committee, DLCL Graduate Student Conference: Urban Jungles, Stanford University. Spring 2012
Graduate Assistant, Humanities Education Focal Group* Chaired by Russell Berman, Stanford University. 2011-2012.
Editorial Assistant, Professor Adrian Daub, Tristan's Shadow - Sexuality and the Total Work of Art. Fall 2011.
Seminar Assistant, Visiting Assistant Professor Falko Schmieder of the Berlin ZfL. Seminar: "Surviving and the Biopolitics of Bare Life." Spring 2011.
* indicates link to source.
