About
Karin A. Wurst, is Professor of German Literature and Culture. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Her books have focused on representations of the family, women’s drama, cultural consumption in 18th Century-Germany, and J.M.R. Lenz : Das Schlaraffenland verwilderter Ideen. Narrative Strategien in den Prosaerzählungen von J. M. R. Lenz (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2014); Fabricating Pleasure: Fashion, Entertainment, and Consumption in Germany (1780-1830), German Literary Theory and Cultural Studies (Wayne State University Press, 2005). Karin A. Wurst and Alan Leidner, Unpopular Virtues: J. M. R. Lenz and the Critics. A Reception History (Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1999). Edited and introduced Eleonore Thon’s “Adelheit von Rastenberg.” Texts and Translation Series. (New York: MLA, 1996). Edited and introduced J.M.R. Lenz als Alternative? Positionsanalysen zum 200. Todestag (Köln, Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, 1992). Frau und Drama im achtzehnten Jahrhundert (Köln, Wien: Böhlau, 1991). “Familiale Liebe ist die wahre Gewalt.” Zur Repräsentation der Familie in Lessings dramatischem Werk” (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988). Her articles focus on 17th and 18th century Germany and issues of gender, cultural and aesthetic representation. The have appeared in German Quarterly, Daphnis, German Studies Review, Lessing Yearbook, Text + Kritik, Seminar, Women in German Yearbook, Goethe Yearbook, Lenz Jahrbuch. Her teaching interests include literary and cultural theories, feminist theory, women’s literature and material culture. From 2006 to 2014 she served as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at MSU; she served as Special Advisor to the Provost on Intercultural Learning and Student Engagement (2014-2016).
Publications
Books
—“Das Schlaraffenland verwilderter Ideen”: Narrative Strategien in den Prosaerzählungen von J. M. R. Lenz [“Wild Ideas in the Land of Plenty”: Narrative Strategies in J.M.R. Lenz’s Prose Works]. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2014.
—Fabricating Pleasure. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005.
Reviews: Anderson, Donovan, German Studies Review 30.3 (Oct.) (2007): 689-91. Martin, Laura, The Modern Language Review 102.2 (Apr.) (2007): 562-63. Pugh, David, European Romantic Review 19.5 (2008): 574-77.
—Wurst, Karin A. and Alan Leidner. Unpopular Virtues: J. M. R. Lenz and the Critics. A Reception History Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1999.
Reviews: Fugate, J. K., Choice 37.1 (1999): 149-50. Gibbons, James, The Modern Language Review 96.3 (2001): 882-83. Gould, Robert, Seminar 38.3 (2002): 287-88. Kastinger Riley, Helene M., Germanic Notes and Reviews 32.2 (2001): 172-74. Stipa Madland, Helga, Colloquia Germanica 33.4 (2000): 392-93. Mayer, Mathias, Germanistik 40.3/4 (1999): 919. Winter, Hans-Gerd, The German Quarterly 73.4 (2000): 423-24.
—Edited and introduced: Eleonore Thon’s ‘Adelheit von Rastenberg’. Text and Translation Series. New York: Modern Language Association, 1996.
—Introduced Eleonore Thon’s ‘Adelheit von Rastenberg’. English translation by George Peters. Companion Volume: Text and Translation Series. New York: Modern Language Association, 1996.
—Edited and introduced J.R.M. Lenz als Alternative? Positionsanalysen zum 200. Todestag 1791. Köln, Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, 1992.
Reviews: Kagel, Martin, Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht, deutsche Sprache und Literatur 86.3 (1994): 455-57. Liedtke, Christian, Lessing-Yearbook 26 (1995): 174-76. Wende, Waltraud. “Der neue Drang zu Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Ausgewählte Publikationen im Gedenkjahr.” Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert 18.2 (1994): 176-83. Winkle, Sally A., German Studies Review 21.1 (1998): 127-28. Winter, Hans-Gerd, Lenz-Jahrbuch 4 (1994): 209-12.
—Edited and introduced Frau und Drama im achtzehnten Jahrhundert [Women and Drama around 1800]. Köln, Wien, Weimar: Böhlau, 1991.
—“Familiale Liebe ist die wahre Gewalt”: Zur Repräsentation der Familie in Lessings dramatischem Werk. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988.
Articles
(referred selection)
—“J.M.R. Lenz, ‘Prosa’.” Handbuch Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Leben – Werk – Wirkung [Handbook: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Life – Works – Reception]. Eds. Freytag, Julia, Inge Stephan and Hans-Gerd Winter. Basel: DeGruyter, in production. 40 pages (2015).
—“Topographie der Geselligkeit: Geselligkeit und Gartenkultur um 1800.” Geselliges Vergnügen. Kulturelle Praktiken von Unterhaltung im langen 19. Jahrhundert. Eds. Ananieva, Anna, Dorothea Böck and Hedwig Pompe. Bielefeld: Aisthesis, 2010. 11-25.
—“The Shaping of Garden Culture in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden (1786-1827). Publishing Culture and the Reading Nation.” German Book History in the Long Nineteenth Century. Ed. Tatlock, Lynne. Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 2010. 40-80.
—“Winds of Change? How Do We Teach Literature in a Collegiate Environment?” The German Quarterly 81.1 (2008): 4-7.
—“How Do We Teach Language, Literature, and Culture in a Collegiate Environment and What Are the Implications for Graduate Education?” Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German 41.1 (2008): 57-60.
—“Fashioning a Nation: Fashion and National Costume in Bertuch’s ‘Journal des Luxus und der Moden’ (1786-1827).” German Studies Review 28.2 (2005): 367-86.
— “Gender and Identity.” Companion to the Works of Lessing. Eds. Fox, Thomas C. and Barbara Fischer. Rochester 2005. 231-57.
—“The Utility of Play and the Enchantment of Instruction and Social Encounters: Georg Philipp Harsdörffer’s ‘Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele’.” Foreign Encounters in Early Modern Culture. Eds. Ehrstine, Glen and Mara Wade. Special edition to Daphnis 2005. 285-302.
—“Was ‘Geist und Sinne lebhaft beschäftigt’. Einige Überlegungen zum Unterhaltungsbegriff im ‘Journal des Luxus und der Moden’.” Das Journal des Luxus und der Moden: Kultur um 1800. Eds. Manger, Klaus and Ralf Dressel. Heidelberg: Winter, 2004. 105-21.
—“Designing the self : Fashion and the body.” Body Dialectics in the Age of Goethe. Eds. Pausch, Holger and Marianne Henn. Amsterdamer Beiträge. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2003. 47-66.
—“ ‘Wilde Wünsche’: The Discourse of Love in Storm and Stress Literature.” Storm and Stress. Ed. Hill, David. Rochester: Camden, 2003. 217-40.
—“The Hazards of Marriage as Love Match: Women Dramatists in the Late Eighteenth Century.” Seminar 38.4 (2002): 313-31.
—“Spellbinding: The Body as Art / Art as Body in ‘Attitüden’.” Lessing Yearbook 32 (2001): 151-81.
—“Narrative Strategien im Erzählwerk von J.M.R. Lenz.” Text und Kritik (2000): 36-43.
—“Gender and the Aesthetics of Display: Baroque Poetics and Sartorial Law.” Daphnis Zeitschrift für mittlere deutsche Literatur 29.1-2 (2000): 159-75.
