Rüdiger Campe named the Mohr Professor of German Languages and Literatures

Rüdiger Campe, newly named as the Alfred C. and Martha F. Mohr Professor of German Languages and Literatures, focuses his teaching and writing on rhetoric and aesthetics, the history of science and representation, baroque theater, and the European novel from the 18th century.

Campe is the author of four books, including “The Game of Probability” and “Baumgarten-Studien. Zur Genealogie der Ästhetik.” His 10 edited volumes and special issues of journals include “Re-Thinking Emotion. Exteriority and Interiority,” “The Case of Citation” (Germanic Review), and “Theatricality and Its Discontents” (Modern Language Notes). He has writtern numerous articles and reviews for professional journals, and contributed chapters to edited books, encyclopedias, and literary histories. Campe serves on the advisory boards of several journals including Monatshefte, the Bucknell Goethe series, Athenäum, and Studia Theodisca.

The Yale professor earned his Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg and received a Habilitation, a post-doctoral degree based on independent research for his second book, from the University of Essen. He began his teaching career as assistant professor at the University of Essen and has held visiting appointments at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Konstanz (Germany), and the University of Siegen (Germany). He served as professor of German at Johns Hopkins University before joining the Yale faculty in 2007 as a professor in the Department of German and affiliate professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Film & Media Studies Program. He currently holds a joint appointment as professor of comparative literature.

Campe has delivered invited lectures at conferences throughout the United States and Europe. In 2011, the Humboldt Foundation honored him in recognition of lifetime achievements in research. His others honors include the Aby Warburg Award from the Warburg Foundation (Germany), and fellowships from the International Center for Cultural Studies (Vienna), the Institute for Advanced Studies (Berlin), and the Mellon Foundation.