Department of German and Russian Studies
German and Russian Studies @ the MU logo University of Missouri
451 Strickland Hall | Columbia, MO 65211-4170
email: grs@missouri.edu | phone: 573-882-4328 | fax: 573-884-8456
Faculty | Franzel

Sean Franzel

Sean Franzel

Assistant Professor of German
Education: Ph.D, 2008, Cornell University
Office: 435A Strickland Hall
Phone: 573-882-4328
Email: franzels@missouri.edu
 

Research

My research interests span the culture, philosophy, and history of eighteenth- to twentieth-century Germany and include more specifically the history of scholarly culture and the university; histories and theories of media; German Idealism and Romanticism and their legacy in aesthetic and political discourse; and the history of science. In my current book project I look at how Romantic and Idealist experiments with the lecture as instructional, literary, and political form present us with an interesting lens through which to register shifting ideas of media, the public sphere, and the status and function of education. I am also working on an article on Romantic cultures of performance in Theodor Fontane’s first novel Vor dem Sturm and an article on the aesthetics of the sublime.

Teaching

As a teacher I aim to create a challenging, yet inviting classroom environment where students explore the interrelation of different processes of critical inquiry through the discussion of a broad range of cultural and medial products. I find learning about German culture, thought, and history so exciting because German thinkers and artists have reflected on modern cultural, political, and social problems that are still entirely relevant to us today. Courses I will be teaching this year include: Enlightenment and Revolution: German Literature 1770-1848; Introduction to German Literature; and a graduate course on the literature of the Medieval and Baroque periods.

Publications

Articles

"'Welches Gesetz ist der Mensch in seiner Wirksamkeit?': Pedagogy and Media in Fichte's Encounter with Mesmerism." The Germanic Review 84.1 (2009): 3-25.

"The Politics and Media of Apostrophe in Hölderlin's Hyperion." The German Quarterly 82:2 (2009): 155-173.

“Is this a Dialogue? Discursive Community and the Media of the Humanities.” REAL: Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature 24 (2009).