Liliane Weissberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Liliane Weissberg
|
|
|---|---|
Weissberg in 2025
|
|
| Born | 1953 |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Literary scholar, cultural historian |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Notable students |
|
Liliane Weissberg, born in 1953, is an American expert in literature and culture. She specializes in the study of German-Jewish history and writings, as well as German and American literature. She is a distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Weissberg has received many important awards for her work. These include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Humboldt Research Award, and the Berlin Prize. She also has an honorary degree from the University of Graz.
Contents
Her Life and Education
Liliane Weissberg was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1953. Her family was Jewish, and her parents were refugees who had left Poland in 1949. She grew up in Frankfurt, Germany.
University Studies
Weissberg studied at the Free University of Berlin. In 1977, she earned her master's degree. Her studies focused on literature from different countries, German studies, and how language works.
She then went to Harvard University in the United States. In 1984, she earned her Ph.D. in comparative literature. Her research looked at American, German, and French literature. Her main project was about the hidden meanings in the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
Her Career as a Professor
After finishing her studies, Liliane Weissberg began teaching.
Early Teaching Career
From 1983 to 1989, she was an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University. She taught German language and literature there.
At the University of Pennsylvania
In 1989, Professor Weissberg joined the University of Pennsylvania. She became an associate professor of German and Comparative Literature. By 1994, she was promoted to a full professor.
Since 2004, she has held a special title: Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor in Arts and Sciences. At the University of Pennsylvania, she has also led the German Languages and Literatures department. She has also directed the program for Comparative Literature and Literary Theory.
Guest Professor and Fellowships
Professor Weissberg has been a guest professor at many universities around the world. These include Princeton University in the U.S., and universities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
She has also been a "fellow" at various research centers. This means she was invited to work on special projects. Some of these places include the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.
Exhibitions and Boards
Beyond teaching, Weissberg has helped create art and history exhibitions. She has curated shows at places like the Jewish Museum Frankfurt and the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
She also serves on important boards. She is a member of the board for the German Historical Museum in Berlin. She also advises the Leo Baeck Institute London, which studies Jewish history.
Her Research and Studies
Professor Weissberg has written many books and over 200 articles. Her research explores German and American literature from the 1700s to the early 1900s. She also studies cultural topics, literary ideas, and how people think about art.
Key Research Areas
- German-Jewish Traditions: She has helped bring attention back to German-Jewish literature and culture.
- Enlightenment and Romanticism: She studies the Jewish-German Enlightenment period and the Romantic movement in Europe and America.
- Visual Studies: This area looks at how images and visual things affect culture.
- The Holocaust: She has also researched issues related to the Holocaust.
Important Figures She Studies
Professor Weissberg has deeply studied many famous thinkers and writers. These include Edgar Allan Poe, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Sigmund Freud. She also studies figures from German history like Moses Mendelssohn and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Awards and Honors
Liliane Weissberg has received many awards for her important contributions to academia:
- Senior Fellow, IFK Vienna (2023)
- Honorary Degree (Dr. phil. h.c.), University of Graz (2022)
- Research Prize Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2019)
- Berlin Prize; Anna-Maria Kellen Fellowship, American Academy in Berlin (2020)
- Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2012)
- Fulbright-Freud Visiting Scholarship/Professorship, Sigmund Freud Museum and University of Vienna
- Fellow at Center for Advanced Studies, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2010, 2013, 2018)
- Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Pennsylvania (2003)
- Fellow of the American Philosophical Society (1998)
- Fellow of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (1992)
- Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1992)
- Voltaire Foundation Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford University (1991)
