Alexander Stephan
Encyclopedia
Alexander Stephan was a specialist in German literature
and area studies
. He was a professor, Ohio Eminent Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies
at Ohio State University
(OSU).
Stephan studied American and German literature at the Freie Universität in Berlin
and at the University of Michigan
. He obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University
, where students in his elementary German courses remember him as one of the best teachers they had in that very distinguished institution. Subsequently, he taught at Princeton, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Florida
. At Ohio State University, he held a research professorship in German literature and area studies.
As professor of German literature, Stephan focused on the modern period. His publications covered the history of German exile literature, the Weimar Republic
, and the literature of the German Democratic Republic
(GDR). He was the author of books, among others, on Anna Seghers
, Christa Wolf
, Max Frisch
, and Peter Weiss
. Stephan was also the first researcher who obtained access to the documents which the FBI kept on German exile writers such as Bertolt Brecht
, Lion Feuchtwanger
, Thomas Mann
and Anna Seghers.
At the OSU Mershon Center, Stephan concentrated on international security
and US-European cultural relations. He wrote about the impact of American culture on the GDR and published five collections of essays analyzing Americanization
and anti-Americanism
in Germany and in Europe after 1945.
Stephan was a founder of the book series Exilstudien/Exile Studies, a member of the German PEN
, and a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation
, Humboldt Foundation, and numerous other institutions. His publications were discussed on German television, by CNN
, and in papers such as The New York Times
, The New York Review of Books
, The Nation
, and The Guardian
.
In 2007 appeared a Festschrift honoring Stephan, Kulturpolitik und Politik der Kultur/Cultural Politics and the Politics of Culture (Oxford), which was edited by Helen Fehervary and Bernd Fischer.
His widow, Halina Stephan, is a professor for Slavic Literature at Ohio State University. She specializes in Russian avant-garde
literature and Polish theatre, and is director of the OSU Center for Slavic and East European Studies.
Books in preparation:
Edited volumes (selection):
TV and radio (selection):
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
and area studies
Area studies
Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing...
. He was a professor, Ohio Eminent Scholar, and Senior Fellow of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
The Mershon Center is an academic think tank at the Ohio State University in the United States. The institution was founded in 1952 when Colonel Ralph D. Mershon left funds to the university for the establishment of a research institution dedicated to research in the fields of international...
at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
(OSU).
Stephan studied American and German literature at the Freie Universität in Berlin
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
and at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where students in his elementary German courses remember him as one of the best teachers they had in that very distinguished institution. Subsequently, he taught at Princeton, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. At Ohio State University, he held a research professorship in German literature and area studies.
As professor of German literature, Stephan focused on the modern period. His publications covered the history of German exile literature, the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, and the literature of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR). He was the author of books, among others, on Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers was a German writer famous for depicting the moral experience of the Second World War.- Life :...
, Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf was a German literary critic, novelist, and essayist. She is one of the best-known writers to have emerged from the former East Germany.-Biography:...
, Max Frisch
Max Frisch
Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
, and Peter Weiss
Peter Weiss
Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, and artist of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance....
. Stephan was also the first researcher who obtained access to the documents which the FBI kept on German exile writers such as Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger
Lion Feuchtwanger was a German-Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht....
, Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
and Anna Seghers.
At the OSU Mershon Center, Stephan concentrated on international security
International security
International security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security...
and US-European cultural relations. He wrote about the impact of American culture on the GDR and published five collections of essays analyzing Americanization
Americanization
Americanization is the influence of the United States on the popular culture, technology, business practices, or political techniques of other countries. The term has been used since at least 1907. Inside the U.S...
and anti-Americanism
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
in Germany and in Europe after 1945.
Stephan was a founder of the book series Exilstudien/Exile Studies, a member of the German PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
, and a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, Humboldt Foundation, and numerous other institutions. His publications were discussed on German television, by CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, and in papers such as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
In 2007 appeared a Festschrift honoring Stephan, Kulturpolitik und Politik der Kultur/Cultural Politics and the Politics of Culture (Oxford), which was edited by Helen Fehervary and Bernd Fischer.
His widow, Halina Stephan, is a professor for Slavic Literature at Ohio State University. She specializes in Russian avant-garde
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960...
literature and Polish theatre, and is director of the OSU Center for Slavic and East European Studies.
Works
Books (selection):- Überwacht, ausgebürgert, exiliert. Schriftsteller und der Staat. Bielefeld, 2007.
- Im Visier des FBI. Deutsche Exilschriftsteller in den Akten amerikanischer Geheimdienste. Stuttgart, 1995, rev. pb. Berlin, 1998, engl. as Communazis.' FBI Surveillance of German EmigréÉmigréÉmigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
Writers. New Haven, 2000. - Anna SeghersAnna SeghersAnna Seghers was a German writer famous for depicting the moral experience of the Second World War.- Life :...
: 'Das siebte Kreuz'. Welt und Wirkung eines Romans. Berlin, 1997. - Anna Seghers im Exil. Bonn, 1993.
- Max FrischMax FrischMax Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist, regarded as highly representative of German-language literature after World War II. In his creative works Frisch paid particular attention to issues relating to problems of human identity, individuality, responsibility, morality and political...
. München, 1983. - Christa WolfChrista WolfChrista Wolf was a German literary critic, novelist, and essayist. She is one of the best-known writers to have emerged from the former East Germany.-Biography:...
. München, 1976, 4th, enl. and rev. ed. 1991. - Die deutsche Exilliteratur. München, 1979.
Books in preparation:
- Left Behind. Popular Culture, Religious Fundamentalism and Politics in the USA of George W. Bush.
- Das Dritte Reich und die Exilliteratur. Ausbürgerung und Überwachung deutscher Autoren durch Behörden des Nazistaates.
Edited volumes (selection):
- America on my mind. Zur Amerikanisierung der deutschen Kultur seit 1945 (with Jochen Vogt). München, 2006.
- The Americanization of Europe: CultureCultureCulture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, DiplomacyDiplomacyDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
, and Anti-AmericanismAnti-AmericanismThe term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
after 1945. New York, 2006, pb. 2007. - Das Amerika der Autoren. Von Kafka bis 09/11 München, 2006.
- Exile and Otherness: New Approaches to the Experience of the Nazi Refugees. Oxford, 2005.
- Refuge and Reality: Feuchtwanger and the European Émigrés in California (with Pól O’Dochartaigh). Amsterdam, 2005.
- Americanization and Anti-Americanism. The German Encounter with American Culture After 1945. New York, 2005, pb. 2007.
- Anna Seghers, Die Entscheidung. Roman. Werkausgabe, vol. I, 7. Berlin, 2003.
- Döblin, L. Feuchtwanger, A. Seghers, A. Zweig, Early 20th Century German Fiction. New York, 2003, pb. 2003.
- Jeans, Rock und Vietnam. Amerikanische Kultur in der DDRGerman Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(with Therese Hörnigk). Berlin, 2002. - ‘Rot = Braun’? Brecht Dialog 2000. Nationalsozialismus und Stalinismus bei Brecht und Zeitgenossen (with Therese Hörnigk). Berlin, 2000.
- Uwe Johnson, Speculations About Jakob and Other Writings. New York, 2000, pb. 2000.
- Themes and Structures. Studies in German Literature from Goethe to the Present. A Festschrift for Theodore ZiolkowskiTheodore ZiolkowskiTheodore Ziolkowski, born 1932 in Birmingham, Alabama, is a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature. He received an A.B. from Duke University in 1951, an A.M. from Duke in 1952 and, following studies at the University of Innsbruck, his Ph.D from Yale University in 1957...
. Columbia, 1997. - Ulrich Plenzdorf, Günter Kunert, Anna Seghers, and others, The New Sufferings of Young W. and Other Stories from the German Democratic Republic (with Therese Hörnigk). New York, 1997, pb. 1997.
- Christa Wolf: The Author’s Dimension. Selected Essays. New York and London, 1993; Chicago, 1995.
- Exil. Literatur und die Künste nach 1933. Bonn, 1990.
- Schreiben im Exil. Zur Ästhetik der deutschen Exilliteratur 1933-1945 (with Hans Wagener). Bonn, 1985.
- Peter WeissPeter WeissPeter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, and artist of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance....
. Die Ästhetik des Widerstands. Frankfurt, 1983, 2nd ed. 1987, 3rd ed. 1990. - Editor of Exilstudien/Exile Studies. A Monograph Series. New York, Oxford, 1993ff. (vols. 1-10, vols. 11 in preparation).
TV and radio (selection):
- Left Behind: Popular culture, religiöser Fundamentalismus und Politik in den USA des George W. Bush, TV lecture, Germany, 2005.
- Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
und der CIA, TV documentary, Germany, 2002. - Exilanten und der CIA, TV documentary, Germany, 2002.
- Brecht und das FBI, TV documentary, Germany, 2001.
- Im Visier des FBI. Deutsche Autoren im US-Exil, TV documentary (with Johannes Eglau), Germany, 1995.