Dr. Gerhard Bauer

Biography

Gerhard Bauer is a distinguished professor emeritus at Freie Universität Berlin, specializing in Modern German Literature. He studied Germanistics, Philosophy, Theology, and History at various institutions, receiving his doctorate in 1962 and habilitation in 1969. His career includes positions as a research assistant and lecturer at universities in Darmstadt, Freiburg, and Frankfurt. In 1971, he became a professor at Freie Universität Berlin, where he served as dean from 1991 to 1993 before retiring in 2000. He has held various visiting professorships, including at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Peking University. His research interests encompass Enlightenment literature, the works of authors like Kleist and Büchner, and themes such as exile literature and migration. Bauer has authored numerous publications on these subjects, contributing to understanding 20th-century prose from Kafka to contemporary figures like Herta Müller. His recent projects explore cross-cultural literature and the Enlightenment's critiques. He has engaged in numerous lecture tours across universities in Poland from 1984 to 2005.

Research Interests