The German Drama workshop will be presenting the comedy "Ein besserer Herr" by Walter Hasenclever on April 19th and 21st. The performaces will begin at 7:30 pm on Thursday and Saturday evening. Entrance is free, and English subtitles will be provided. If you are just learning German or would just like to spend an evening enjoying a wonderful German comedy, we welcome you to this event!

You can find the flyer for the performance here. (in PDF format)

Fall 2006

Faculty takes part in Symposium in Italy

Dr. Geoffrey Howes at the Kofler Symposium in South Tyrol

On September 9 and 10, 2006, Geoffrey Howes took part in a symposium held in Bolzano / Bozen, Alto Adige / South Tyrol, Italy, in honor of the late poet Gerhard Kofler . Writers, scholars, and musicians met to hear readings from Kofler's works and to discuss his significance. Kofler was a truly bicultural literary figure who wrote his poetry in Italian and then translated it into German. He lived and published in Austria. In Fall 2001, he was the Max Kade Writer in Residence at Bowling Green State University.

Dr. Howes's presentation was titled "Die dritte Sprache. Erfahrungen beim Übersetzen der Gedichte Gerhard Koflers ins Amerikanische" ["The Third Language. Experiences while Translating Gerhard Kofler's Poems into American English"]

Faculty to speak at convention

Geoffrey Howes will speak on "Poets on Poetry: Anna Mitgutsch, Kerstin Hensel, and Evelyn Schlag Reading Christine Lavant" at the 48th Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association in Chicago, Nov. 9-12.

Spring 2006

Geoffrey C. Howes has been elected as member-at-large to the Executive Council of the Modern Austrian Literature and Culture Association. His term as co-editor of the association's journal Modern Austrian Literature ended in 2005.

Geoffrey Howes recently presented two papers at the Midwest Modern Language Association conference in Milwaukee :

"Madness in the Landscape Christine Lavant's Carinthian Poetry,"and "A Course on German-Austrian Heritage Involving Undergraduate Research: Lessons Learned from the First Offering."

His article "The Politics of Rhetoric in Some Recent Austrian Essays" appeared in a special issue of "New German Critique" on "Austrian Writers Confront the Past," edited by Steven Beller and Frank Trommler (No. 93, Fall 2004, published 2005).

Conference announcement

Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts
new research on explorations of the effect of the Holocaust on the present and on the way in which the present understands, defines and/or represents that past

23-26 March 2006

Bowling Green State University , Ohio
Proposal Deadline: 15 October 2005
CONFERENCE HOMEPAGE
FULL CALL FOR PAPERS AVAILABLE HERE

Scholarship information - Dzidra Shlaku Scholarship recipients

Dzidra Shllaku Scholarship recipients for 2005-2006 study in Austria are featured in the May alumni newsletter.

Spring 2005

German Drama Performance

The German drama Kleinbuergerhochzeit was staged 13 and 16 April 2005 in the Union theater. The performances were entertaining. They played to full houses.

Film & Discussion Series Announcement

"Deadly Discrimination: Reviewing the Final Solution and Its Consequences"—24 March-7 May series of films and discussions on the genocide against Jewish people during WW II. Featured guest scholar, Dr. Norbert Kampe, director of the House of the Wannsee Conference. Full calendar of events.

Alumna speaker comes to Bowling Green

Alumna Jill Sommer spoke to Russian and German students on 7 April 2005 . Ms. Sommer, freelance German translator, graduated in 1992 with a double major in German and Russian and from Kent State University in 1995 with a Masters of Arts in German Translation. She worked in Bonn , Germany from 1995 to 2001 as a freelance translator and Internet researcher. Ms. Sommer is an adjunct faculty member at Kent State University , where she teaches Terminology and Computer Applications at the graduate level. In addition, she is a contract linguist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Virtual Translation Center . Ms. Sommer visited with her colleage, Dr. Cynthia Hazelton. Both participated in the International Careers Information Day, Wednesday, 6 April, organized by the BGSU Career Center . Poster and full information here.

Presentation by Dr. Howes at the University of Toledo

On 31 March 2005, the University of Toledo German Club hosted "One Poem, Three Languages? Translating Gerhard Kofler's Italian/German Tandem Poetry into English," a presentation by Professor Geoffrey Howes of BGSU's Department of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages. Dr. Howes and workshop participants disccussed several translations with an eye towards choices of vocabulary, syntax, and cultural connotations. The focus was the work of the contemporary Austrian writer Gerhard Kofler, who himself was a guest of the German Club on the UT campus in November 2001.

Guest Speaker at the University of Toledo

Dr. Debra Stoudt of the University of Toledo was the department and German Club's guest speaker on "Medieval Herbalism" on 23 March. Dr. Stoudt is an expert on medieval German culture. Interesting details of her presentation pertained to women's roles in healing during the Middle Ages.

On Monday, March 14, 2005 Dr. Christoph Veldhues of the Goethe Institut-Chicago gave a presentation entitled "Pro-Deutsch!" The presentation was on generating interest in German at the pre-college and college levels.

Sabine Scholl

Born in Grieskirchen, Upper Austria in 1959, Ms Scholl studied German, drama and history at the University of Vienna where she earned her doctorate. After serving as a lecturer at the University of Aveiro , Portugal for a year, she began her career as freelance writer in 1990. She participated in the "Wiener Vorlesungen zur Literatur" in 1992 and organized the women writers lab "Frauen Fremde Körper" in Vienna in 1995. Although one might consider Ms. Scholl to be an Austrian writer, she considers herself a chameleon, someone who adapts effortlessly to the various cultural contexts ( New York and Chicago , Vienna , Berlin or Lisbon ) in which she is living at a given moment.

Ms Scholl is the author of novels, essays, literary studies and radio plays. Among her works are: Kaliningrad . [Mit Bruno Pisek]. Regie: S. Scholl, B. Pisek. ORF, 1988; Unica Zürn: Fehler Fallen Kunst. Zur Wahrnehmung und Re/Produktion bei Unica Zürn. Bodenheim: Hain, 1990. Fette Rosen. Erzählungen. Berlin : Gatza, 1991; Haut an Haut. Roman. Berlin : Gatza, 1993; NO-NAMES. Namensanagramme. Anläßlich der Ausstellung NO-NAMES im Theseustempel, Wien vom 30. Sept. bis 21. Okt. 1993. [Mit Thomas Jocher]. Eigenverlag, 1993; Gut im Bild. Ein Handbuch. Klagenfurt : Ritter, 1994; Wie komme ich dazu? Essays. Graz , Wien: Droschl, 1994; Alle ihre Körper. Zwei Erzählungen. Klagenfurt : Ritter, 1996; Die Welt als Ausland. Zur Literatur zwischen den Kulturen. Wien: Sonderzahl, 1999; Die geheimen Aufzeichnungen Marinas. Roman. Berlin : Berlin-Verlag, 2000.

Ms Scholl is recipient of numerous literary prizes, including the Staatsstipendium des Bundesministeriums für Unterricht und Kunst und für Literatur (1990); Förderungspreis der Stadt Wien für Literatur (1991); Rauriser Literaturpreise der Stadt Salzburg (1992);

For more information, see Sabine Scholl's website at www.sabinescholl.com

The information was excerpted from the following Internet sites:

http://www.literaturhaus.at/buch/buch/rez/scholl/bio.html

http://www.literaturhaus.at/headlines/themen/gegenstrich.html

Doron Rabinovici - Visiting Author

Monday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m., location TBA. Doron Rabinovici made a stop in Bowling Green on his spring reading tour.

Doron Rabinovici, an author, essayist, and historian, was born in Tel Aviv in 1961 and has lived in Vienna since 1964. Studied medicine, psychology, ethnology und history at the University of Vienna and earned a doctorate in history in 2000. He was co-Founder of the Republican Club New Austria (1986) and the Democratic Offensive (1999). Among the many prizes he has won is the Jean Améry Prize for essay writing (2002).

His most recent novel, Ohnehin, has just been published by Suhrkamp Verlag in Frankfurt am Main.

Works:

Ohnehin. Roman. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 2004.

Credo und Credit. Einmischungen. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 2001. (edition suhrkamp 2216).

Instanzen der Ohnmacht. Wien 1938-1945. Der Weg zum Judenrat. Frankfurt a. M.: Jüdischer Verlag bei Suhrkamp, 2000.

Republik der Courage. Wider die Verhaiderung. Essays. Hrsg. von Doron Rabinovici und Robert Misik. Berlin : Aufbau, 2000.

Österreich. Berichte aus Quarantanien. Essays. Hrsg. von Doron Rabinovici und Isolde Charim. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 2000. (edition suhrkamp 2184).

Suche nach M. Roman in zwölf Episoden. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1997.

(English: The Search for M. Transl. Francis Michael Sharp. Riverside , CA , 2000.)

Papirnik. Stories. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1994. (edition suhrkamp 1989).

Here is a note about the new novel.
http://www.suhrkamp.de/foreignrights/autoren/fiction/rabinovici-ohnehin.htm

German Immersion Week Announcement

Kulturelle Kostproben für den Deutschunterricht: Die deutschsprachigen Länder im Spiegel ihrer Texte - German Immersion Week at BGSU for German Teachers and Graduate Students Late June/Early July 2005

During the summer session of 2005, the Department of German, Russian and East Asian Languages in conjunction with the Goethe Institut-Chicago proposes to offer another immersion week at Bowling Green State University . The third workshop of its kind at BGSU since 1997, it will again provide teachers of German in the Midwest the opportunity to refresh and sharpen their linguistic, cultural and pedagogical competence. The tentative title for the workshop is Kulturelle Kostproben für den Deutschunterricht: Die deutschsprachigen Länder im Spiegel ihrer Texte with a special emphasis on humor as reflected in German, Austrian and Swiss popular culture. Presenters will draw on a wide selection of texts and genres, i.e. comic strips, cartoons, cabaret, film, popular music and fiction and German-speaking websites. In other words, in the workshop we will apply an intercultural approach. We will present and compare cultural, pedagogical, visual, musical "texts" from German-speaking Europe in order to help course participants determine similarities and differences in current self-understanding and self-expression.

For more information, please contact Dr. Christina Guenther, cguenth@bgnet.bgsu.edu or 419-372.7589.

Fall - Winter 2003/4

GREAL 250/ 2 credit hours Break Away to Salzburg BGSU's Spring Break in Austria March 6-13, 2004

With its focus on on-site learning, this exciting new cultural studies course is designed to help undergradute students enrolled in introductory German classes discover one of the most beautiful cities in Europe . In Salzburg we will introduce students to the architecture, culture, history, and geography of Salzburg , its scenic alpine environs and (weather-permitting) Munich . You will experience the European lifestyle by sampling what one of its richest cities and regions has to offer; you will be introduced to Salzburg 's history, museums, architectural highlights, university, its inhabitants, its cafes and restaurants.

Tentative Schedule in Salzburg

Two workshops at BG in February; one in March

Sunday, 7 March
Arrival in Munich ; Bustrip to Salzburg (2 hours) City stroll in the afternoon; Dinner with AYA Director and students. Kastners Schenke

Monday, 8 March
Official guided tour of Salzburg
Afternoon stroll over the Nonnberg, Mönchsberg to Mülln

Tuesday, 9 March
München by train. Stroll through town, museum, Bavarian Gemütlichkeit!

Wednesday, 10 March
Mozart Day with a Schnitzeljagd in the afternoon. Evening concert in Mirabell: Schlosskonzert

Thursday, 11 March
Das Studentenleben. Day at the University of Salzburg

Friday, 12 March
Tour of Dokumentation Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden , Germany

Saturday, 13 March
Return to U.S

For more information, please contact Dr. Christina Guenther, cguenth@bgnet.bgsu.edu or 419-372.7589.

Faculty to participate in TraNDaF program

Dr. Kristie Foell has been selected to participate in the TraiNDaF development programs in Washington , Chicago , and Germany in 2004. The major goal of TraiNDaF (Transatlantisches interkulturelles Nachwuchsfoerderungsprogramm Deutsch als Fremdsprache) is to develop younger leaders in academe from among German faculty members in the U.S. The program is organized by the American Association of Teachers of German and the Goethe Institute and funded by the German government. For more information, see

http://www.aatg.org/programs/profdev/TraiNDaf/TraiNDaF_04_info.pdf

Older Alumni News

Andrea Antal, 2003 graduate in German and Political Science, has been hired by the Romanian MInistry for European Integration as a councillor. She is responsible for external communication, especially with Hungary and Germany/Austria. Right now she is following the local (Transylvanian/Romanian) Hungarian and German press. The noted German writer Peter Schneider has also invited her to translate his works into Hungarian.

Lisa Heinrich, B.Ed. German 2003, will teach English as a Fulbright teaching assistant at the "Nonntal" high school in Salzburg , Austria (2003-2004).

Anna Rulska, Dual M.A. graduate in German and Political Science (2003), has been hired by Lyon College in Batesville , Arkansas , her alma mater. She is administrative coordinator for the Vice President for Student Life.

Ana Maritoi, Dual M.A. graduate in German and Teaching English as a Second Language (2003), has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in German at the University of Toronto . She joins her sister, Alina Mahu, who earned her M.A. in German at BGSU in 2001.

Shannon Hebel , M.A. in German 1998, is a Ph.D. candidate in German at Georgetwon University . She is also employed as a linguist for the Justice Department in Washington , D.C.

John Franz, M.A. in German 1999, will serve as "Lektor" in American Studies at the University of Salzburg during 2003-2004.

Tara Campbell, 1995 M.A. graduate, has recently assumed the position of Director of Recruitment and Admissions for Webster University in Vienna , Austria .

Nikhil Sathe, 1993 M.A. in German, Ph.D. 2003 from Ohio State , has been hired for a tenure-track job and Ohio University in Athens , Ohio .