Dr. Niklaus Largier

Biography

Niklaus Largier is a distinguished Professor in the Department of German at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Zurich in 1989. His academic career includes a joint appointment in Comparative Literature at Berkeley and directorships in the UC Berkeley’s Program in Medieval Studies and Religious Studies. Largier has held notable fellowships, including those from the Swiss National Research Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation, and received the Anneliese Maier Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation in 2015. His research interests lie in the interplay between history and imagination, particularly within the contexts of emotions and sensory experience from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Largier is recognized as an expert in the mystical traditions of German literature, specifically the influence of Meister Eckhart. His influential publications include significant works on Diogenes, as well as studies on mysticism and aesthetic experience. Largier has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and the University of Konstanz and has actively contributed to academic discourse through his editorial work with journals and book series in his field.

Research Interests