Paul Goetsch (English studies)

Paul Goetsch (born March 11, 1934 in Marburg ; † April 7, 2018 ) was a German English and American studies scholar who is considered to be one of the leading representatives of German English studies in the post-war generation.

Life

Paul Goetsch, son of an employee at the Kassel City Theater, attended the secondary school in Marburg from 1944. 1951/52 he spent a school year at the high school of Boulder (Colorado). From 1954 he studied English, German and political science at the University of Marburg and from 1957 to 1959 at the University of Toronto . His dissertation in 1960 on Hugh MacLennan was also the first German doctoral thesis in the field of Canadian studies . In 1961 Goetsch became a research assistant to Horst Oppel and completed his habilitation in 1966.

In 1967 he was appointed to a professorship at the English Department at the University of Cologne . From 1971 until his retirement he taught as a professor for English and American studies at the University of Freiburg . Together with his friend and colleague Willi Erzgräber , Goetsch played a decisive role in the expansion of the English seminar at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, whose reputation he helped to shape.

Act

Goetsch worked in various research areas and published numerous works and writings on the English novel, for example on the conception of novels in England, 1880–1910 (1967); on Dickens (1986) and on Hardy's Wessex novels (1994). He also conducted research in the field of Anglo-American drama and in 1977 and 1992 published a revised standard work on Baufformen des Modern English and American Drama . In addition, Goetsch published various publications on short stories such as studies and materials on the short story (1971) and narrative-theoretical issues such as reading and writing in the 17th and 18th centuries (1994).

Even after his retirement, Goetsch published several books such as power fantasies in English-language Faust poems: Functional History Studies (2008); Motifs and Themes in modern British and American Poetry (2013) or Monsters in English Literature (2002).

Together with the numerous volumes he edited, Paul Goetsch published 28 books and around 200 scientific articles. In addition, he was centrally involved as speaker and vice spokesman in two large special research areas in the humanities at the University of Freiburg, the special research area "Orality and Written Form" and "Identities and Alterities". In particular, from his research on political rhetoric in the United States in the framework of the first-mentioned Collaborative Research Center, various essays and anthologies were created that are still considered relevant in the current scientific discussion.

Goetsch looked after generations of teacher training and master's students at the English seminar at Freiburg University and was also involved in promoting young academics. The scientists who received their habilitation or doctorate from Goetsch, some of whom have worked worldwide, founded their own school and contributed to Goetsch becoming one of the few German Anglicists of his generation who also enjoy a high reputation and great recognition internationally in the English-speaking world.

literature

• Konrad Gross: Paul Goetsch on his 60th birthday. In the S. (Ed.): The nature-culture paradigm in English-language narrative literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Festschrift for the 60th birthday of Paul Goetsch. Tübingen 1994. pp. 1-7.

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinrich Ferenczy in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Heinrich Ferenczy in the bibliographic database WorldCat
• Search for "Paul Goetsch" in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See the information in the obituary of the University of Freiburg on [1] , accessed on April 13, 2018.
2. ↑ See the information in the obituary of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg on [2] , accessed on April 13, 2018.
3. ↑ See the information in the obituary of the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg on [3] , accessed on April 13, 2018.
4. ↑ See the information in the obituary of the University of Freiburg on [4] , accessed on April 13, 2018.