Research Interests
- Environmental Humanities
- Animals and Plant Studies
- American Renaissance
- Philosophy of Science/Mathematics
- Historiographic Metafiction
PhD thesis
I wrote my dissertation on US-American author Thomas Pynchon's poetics of mathematics. Few authors besides Pynchon grapple so extensively with mathematics throughout their entire career, and because I studied both English and Mathematics, this interdisciplinary project arose quite naturally for me. Upon arranging his works chronologically, I argue that a specific historiography of the US emerges, in which the crucial role of mathematics in the stages of colonization (18th century), industrialization (19th century), World Wars and counter-cultural revolution (20th century), and digitalization (21st century) is highlighted. Pynchon thus partakes in what German philosopher Max Bense calls a "cultural history of mathematics," a history that is less concerned with understanding how mathematics itself progressed as a science, but rather with tracing its impact on the makeup and organization of cultures, societies, and governments. Through Pynchon's novels, we see the relevance of flat-space geometry for cartographical and colonial purposes (in Mason & Dixon), the employment of vector geometry and complex algebra for the electrification of America and the subjugation of the working class (in Against the Day), the usefulness of higher-dimensional geometry, calculus and chaos theory for V2 rocket ballistics (in Gravity's Rainbow), the parallelism between mathematical group theory and political group formation in counter-cultural revolutions (in Vineland), and the role of algebraic cryptography, probability theory, and statistics in online communication and 9/11 conspiracies (in Bleeding Edge). Pynchon's literary historiography is thus mathematically indexed, as the evolution of America and the evolution of mathematics do broadly correspond: from simple and deterministic configurations to complex and probabilistic configurations. With this dissertation, I aim to show that Pynchon's literary-cultural history of mathematics may both enrich our understanding of historical events, crises, and transformations and help us calibrate the perks and dangers of mathematical practices in the future.
Teaching
Winter Term 2022/23 | "Animals in American Literature and Culture", Proseminar, English Seminar I, University of Cologne |
Summer Term 2018 | “Pädagogische Topologien”, Proseminar, Chair of Educational Anthropology, University of Cologne |
Summer Term 2018 | “Wissens- und Bildungsutopien”, Proseminar, Chair of Educational Anthropology, University of Cologne |
Winter Term 2016/17 | “American Objects”, Tutorial for North American Studies M.A. program, English Seminar I, University of Cologne |
Winter Term 2015/16 | “American Bestiary”, Tutorial for North American Studies M.A. program, English Seminar I, University of Cologne |
Summer Term 2015 | German 102 and recitations, Department for Modern Languages and Cultures der University of Rochester, NY, USA |
Winter Term 2014 | German 101, Department for Modern Languages and Cultures der University of Rochester, NY, USA |
Academic Career
Since 2022 | Contract Lecturer at the Chair of American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne |
Summer term 2018 | Research Associate at the Chair of Educational Anthropology, University of Cologne |
2015/10 - 2017/03 | Teaching Assistant and Tutor at the Chair for American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne |
Education
2018-2021 | PhD thesis: After Maths: Thomas Pynchon's Poetics of Mathematics, a.r.t.e.s. Integrated Track Scholarship, University of Cologne, Degree: Doctorate (summa cum laude) |
2018-2019 | Graduate Studies in Comparative Literature, University of Rochester, Degree: M.A. (1,0) |
2010-2017 | State Examination in English, Mathematics, and Educational Sciences, University of Cologne, Degree: 1. Staatsexamen (1,2) |
2014-2015 | Graduate Studies in Comparative Literature, University of Rochester, NY, USA., Degree: Master of Arts, GPA 4.0 |
Memberships
Since 2021 | DGfA/GAAS: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien/ German Association for American Studies |
Academic Service and Positions
2020/06 - 2021/06 | Co-speaker of the Doctoral Candidates of the University of Cologne Member of the Council for Young Researchers and the Equality Board |
2019/01 - 2019/06 | Member of the Doctoral Candidate Committee at the Excellence Inspection of the University of Cologne |
Publications
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“On the Temptations of Comfort. The Poetics of Slothfulness in Pynchon”
In: Dorothee Birke/Stella Butter (Eds.), Comfort in Contemporary Culture Bielefeld: transcript. 2020, pp. 43-63 https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839449028-003
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“The Empowering Paradox of ‘1=2.’ Mark Z. Danielewski’s Arithmopoetics”
In: Sascha Pöhlmann (Ed.), Orbit: A Journal of American Literature 10 (2): 8, pp. 1-51 https://doi.org/10.16995/orbit.8226
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“Why Scientists Creep and Crawl. Moving West in Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon”
In: Leopold Lippert/Alexandra Ganser/Michael Fuchs (Eds.), American Im/Mobilities. JAAAS (Vol. 2, No. 2, 2022). Forthcoming.
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“Schuld”
In: Markus Dederich/Jörg Zirfas (Eds.), Glossar der Vulnerabilität, Springer VS, 2022. Forthcoming.
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“Katastrophe”
In: Markus Dederich/Jörg Zirfas (Eds.), Glossar der Vulnerabilität, Springer VS, 2022. Forthcoming.
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“Endlichkeit”
In: Markus Dederich/Jörg Zirfas (Eds.), Glossar der Vulnerabilität, Springer VS, 2022. Forthcoming.
Conference Talks
2022/11 | “Underwater. Immersive Ecologies in Subnautica, BioShock, and Ecosystem”, Playing the Field III: Video Game Ecologies and American Studies (accepted), Amerikahaus Munich |
2022/09-10 | “The Afronauts of the Future. Black Speculative Fiction as More Than Postcolonial Participation?”, Participating in Postcolonial Wor(l)ds (accepted), Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf |
2022/06 | “Into the Crypts of Crypto: Pynchon’s Cryptographic Imagination”, International Pynchon Week 2022, University of British Columbia |
2021/10 | “The Essential Difference Between 9/11 and 11 September”, Digital Americas, University of Vienna |
2019/09 | “Cryptography and Randomness in Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge”, Trust and Truth, Cambridge University |
2019/06 | “From Rainbows to Stonebows: Ossifying Mathematics in Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow”, International Pynchon Week 2019, Sapienza University of Rome |
2018/12 | “’Avoid the Discomfort:’ Sloth as Counter-Entropy in Pynchon’s Work”, Challenging Comfort as an Idea(l) in Contemporary Literature and Culture, Campus Landau, University of Koblenz-Landau |
2018/11 | “Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon – A Geometrical Moving West”, American Im/Mobilities, Austrian Association for American Studies, University of Vienna |
2016/12 | “The Contact Galaxy: Edgar Allan Poe’s Interface of Mathematics and Poetry in 'Eureka'”, Speculative Fictions, University of Cologne |
2015/03 | “Ghosts, Ghouls, Aliens, Cyborgs: Vivian Sobchack and the Mélange of Science Fiction and Horror in Film”, The Biggest Comebacks: Tenacious Resurgence of Cultural Topoi, University at Buffalo |
2014/01 | “Uncanny Rooms in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves and H. P. Lovecraft’s 'The Dreams in the Witch-House'”, Connect the Dots!, University of Bayreuth |