Dr. Rolf Goebel
Emeritus Professor - German,
World Language & Cultures
Biography
Born in Kiel, Germany, Dr. Rolf J. Goebel holds degrees from Brown University (M.A. in English, 1977), the University of Kiel (Staatsexamen in German and English, 1979), and the University of Maryland (Ph.D. in German Language and Literature, 1982). From 1982-2020 he taught German language and culture at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus at this institution. Areas of research include: German modernism; literary theory and cultural studies (intermediality, sound studies, music, philosophy, and literary aesthetics); Walter Benjamin, Friedrich Hölderlin, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke.
In addition to numerous articles, book reviews, and conference papers, he has published four monographs: Kritik und Revision: Kafkas Rezeption mythologischer, biblischer und historischer Traditionen (1986); Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse (1997); Benjamin heute: Großstadtdiskurs, Postkolonialität und Flanerie zwischen den Kulturen (2001); and Klang im Zeitalter technischer Medien: Eine Einführung (2017). He is also a co-author of A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia (with Richard T. Gray, Ruth V. Gross und Clayton Koelb, 2005), has edited A Companion to the Works of Walter Benjamin (2009), and co-edited Literatur in der Medienkonkurrenz: Medientranspositionen 1800-1900-2000 (with Volker C. Dörr, 2018). His essay "Berlin's Architectural Citations: Reconstruction, Simulation, and the Problem of Historical Authenticity" (PMLA 118:5, October 2003: 1268-1289) won the 2004 William Riley Parker Prize. For his article "Gesamtkunstwerk Dresden: Official Urban Discourse and Durs Grünbein's Poetic Critique" (The German Quarterly 80:4, Fall 2007) he received the Max Kade Award for the Best Article in this journal.
From 2011 until 2016, Goebel served as Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, later World Languages and Cultures at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He was also a member of the 2011 and 2012 German Studies Association Conference Program Committees, serving as the Session Coordinator of Interdisciplinary/Diachronic Panels, and a member of the GSA task force on program and structural changes. Rolf Goebel is also active as a non-professional organist and harpsichordist. He has served as Dean and Sub-Dean of the Greater Huntsville, AL Chapter of the American Guild of Organist and has given numerous local recitals and introductory organ workshops. He is especially interested in the repertoire of the 16th to 18th centuries.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
- Ph.D., German Language and Literature, University of Maryland, 1982
- Staatsexamen, German and English, University of Kiel, 1979
- M.S., English, Brown University, 1977
Honors & Awards
- William Riley Parker Prize, 2004
- Max Kade Award for the Best Article in The German Quarterly, 2007
Expertise
- German modernism and contemporary literature
- Representations of metropolitan space, especially Berlin
- Literary theory and cultural studies (cultural hermeneutics, postcolonial theory, intermediality, media competition, media transfer, music and literary aesthetics, sound studies)
- Walter Benjamin
- Durs Grünbein
- Friedrich Hölderlin
- Franz Kafka
- Thomas Mann
- Rainer Maria Rilke
Recent Publications
Kritik und Revision: Kafkas Rezeption mythologischer, biblischer und historischer Traditionen (Critique and Revision: Kafka's Reception of Mythological, Biblical, and Historical Traditions,1986)
Constructing China: Kafka's Orientalist Discourse (1997)
Benjamin heute: Großstadtdiskurs, Postkolonialität und Flanerie zwischen den Kulturen (Benjamin Today: Urban Discourse, Postcoloniality, and Flnerie between Cultures, 2001)
A Franz Kafka Encyclopedia (2005)
A Companion to the Works of Walter Benjamin (2009)
"Berlin's Architectural Citations: Reconstruction, Simulation, and the Problem of Historical Authenticity" (PMLA 118:5, October 2003: 1268-1289)
"Gesamtkunstwerk Dresden: Official Urban Discourse and Durs Grünbein's Poetic Critique." German Quarterly 80:4 (Fall 2007): 492-510.
