Dr. Virginia Richter

Biography

Virginia Richter is a Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Bern. She was born in Czechoslovakia and emigrated to Germany in 1970, where she studied English Literature, Comparative Literature, and German Literature at the University of Munich. She received her M.A. in 1992 and completed her doctoral dissertation focusing on Gender and Literature. She held various positions, including Teaching posts and a postdoctoral research grant at the University of Munich. In 2007, she assumed her chair at the University of Bern, previously declining offers from universities in Göttingen and Jena. Her research interests encompass Victorian and Modernist literature, literature and science, literary animal studies, and the cultural significance of beaches in literature. She has published several works, including the book 'Literature Darwin. Human Beasts in Western Fiction 1859-1939.' Additionally, she has held various leadership roles at the university, including Vice Dean for Humanities and President of the Institute of Advanced Study. Currently, she is leading a National Science Foundation-funded project titled 'Beach Long Twentieth Century,' which investigates the depiction of beaches in literature and culture.

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