Russell A. Berman

Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature
Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution (by courtesy)

Building 260, Room 201
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2030
Phone: 650 723 1069
Fax: 650 725 8421
Email: berman@stanford.edu

Interests

German literature and culture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; politics and literature; cultures of totalitarianism; critical theory. Cultural and political relations between the United States and Europe. Anti-Americanism. Editor of TELOS.

Education

1979 Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis
1976 M.A., Washington University, St. Louis
1972 B.A., Harvard University

Current courses

Aut GERLIT 126Q. Reading German Literature - An Introduction (Stanford Introductory Seminar)
Aut GERLIT 268A. Realism
Win GERGEN 008A. Myth and Modernity: Culture in Germany (Enroll in IHUM 008A)
Win GERGEN 168B. Culture of Terror: Nazi Germany
Spr GERGEN 289A. The Novelist as Public Intellectual: Mann, Rushdie, Roy

Previous courses

008A. Myth and Modernity: Culture in Germany
1 26Q. Reading German Literature. An Introduction Stanford Introductory Seminar
163/163A. Kafka
243.Deutsche Geistesgeschichte III: 20th Century German Thought
288A. Brecht, Sartre, Adorno
Sophomore College: Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain
Literary Institutions: A Comparative Approach (an online course for students at Stanford's overseas campuses)

Selected publications

Articles

"Demokratischer Krieg, repressiver Frieden: über den realexistierenden Antiamerikanismus," Merkur 57 (July 2003): 570-582.

"Der ewige Zweite: Deutschlands Sekundärkolonialismus." In Phantasiereiche: zur Kulturgeschichte des Deutschen Kolonialismus. Ed. Birthe Kundrus. Frankfurt and New York: Campus Verlag, 2003. Pp. 19-32.

"Politics: Divide and Rule," Modern Language Quarterly 62:4 (December 2001), 317-330

"'Effi, Come.' Space, Time, and Redemption in Effi Briest." In: A Companion to German Realism. Ed. Todd Kontje. Rochester: Camden House, 2002. Pp. 339-364.

"Tradition and Betrayal in 'the Judgment'." In: A Companion to the Works of Franz Kafka. Ed. James Rolleston. Rochester: Camden House, 2002. Pp. 85-100.

"German Literature and Philosophy, 1918-1945." In Literature and Philosophy in Germany. Ed. Nicholaus Saul. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. Pp. 197-244.

"Adorno's Politics." In: Adorno: A Critical Reader. Ed. Nigel Gibson and Andrew Rubin. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002. Pp. 110-131.

"Lyrik und Oeffentlichkeit: das amerikanische Gedicht." In "Die andere Stimme:" Das Fremder in der Kultur der Moderne: Festschrift für Klaus R. Scherpe. Ed. Alexander Honold and Manuel Köppen. Cologne: Böhlau, 1999. Pp. 231-242.

"History and Community in 'Death in Venice'". In: Death in Venice: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Naomi Ritter. New York: Bedford Press, 1998, 263-280.

"DuBois and Wagner: Race, Nation, and Culture between Germany and the United States," German Quarterly 70.2 (Spring 1997) 123-135.

Books

Enlightenment or Empire: Colonial Discourse in German Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998. [Outstanding Book in German Studies Award of the German Studies Association, 2000].

Cultural Studies of Modern Germany: History, Representation, and Nationhood. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993.

Modern Culture and Critical Theory: Art, Politics, and the Legacy of the Frankfurt School. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989.

The Rise of the Modern German Novel: Crisis and Charisma. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986. [Outstanding Book in German Studies Award of the German Studies Association, 1988].

Reviews

Robert R. Shandley, ed. Unwilling Germans? The Goldhagen Debate. In: South Central Review 17 (2000): 124-125.

Eugene Jolas. Man from Babel. Ed. Andreas Kramer and Rainer Rumold. In: Modernism/Modernity 7: 326-327.

Susanne Zantop, Colonial Fantasies: Conquest, Family, and Nation in Precolonial Germany, 1770-1870. In: Modern Philology 98 (2000): 110-114.

Andrew Hewitt, Political Inversions: Homosexuality, Fascism, and the Modernist Imaginary. In: German Quarterly 71: 198-199.

Current projects

1. Literature, cultural history, and democracy
2. Anti-Americanism as a European Ideology

Professional activities

MLA Division Committee of 19th and early 20th Century German Literature, 2002-
ADFL Executive Committee, 1998-2000
German Quarterly, Editorial Board, 1987-1994
MLA Nominating Committee, 1998
PMLA Editorial Board, 1995-1997
MLA Program Committee, 1993-1995
MLA Division Committee of 19th and early 20th Century German Literature, 1987-1992

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

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