I am a Professor (Chair, 2007-2011) in the English Department at Western Michigan University. Before coming to WMU, I was a University Distinguished Scholar and Professor of English at the University of Northern Iowa. I studied English and German literature and language at the University of Regensburg (Germany) and Williams College (USA), specializing in Early English literature and linguistics and attending classes taught by Karl Heinz Göller, Gerhard Hahn, Otto Hietsch, Sherron Knopp, Ernst von Reusner, and Maureen Fries. In 1990, I received my doctorate in English and German philology from the University of Regensburg, and I have also taught at the Pädagogische Hochschule Dresden (1990-1991) and the University of Tübingen (1996-1998). Much of my recent scholarly work happens at the intersections of medieval literature, language, and culture and their reception in postmedieval times. Due to my international biography and career, I also developed a special interest in the genesis of academic practices from the beginnings of the modern university in Germany and Britain through their various transformations in North America. Within these general areas, I focus on questions of cultural translation, memory, identity, and discourse.
Monographs
Chaucer and the Discourse of German Philology: A History of Critical Reception and an Annotated Bibliography of Studies, 1793-1948 (2002)
In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, German-speaking scholars played a decisive role in founding...
Literarischer Nominalismus im Spätmittelalter. Eine Untersuchung zu Sprache, Charakterzeichnung und Struktur in Geoffrey Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde (1990)
Innerhalb der philologischen Deutungen von Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde existieren eine Reihe kontrovers diskutierter Problemstände,...
Edited Volumes
Cahier Calin: Makers of the Middle Ages. Essays in Honor of William Calin (with Elizabeth Emery) (2011)
Makers of the Middle Ages (with Elizabeth Emery) (2011)
Republication of bibliophile print version published earlier in 2011 and electronic version published with bepress.com....
Eminent Chaucerians? Early Women Scholars and the History of Reading Chaucer (with Peter Schneck) (2009)
Most existing histories of Chaucer studies display a narrow focus on what might be considered...
Culture and the Medieval King (with Christine Havens and Keith Russo), UNIversitas (2008)
In the spring semester of 2007, I offered a graduate seminar investigating the "The Arthurian...
Falling Into Medievalism (with Anne Lair) (2006)
Medievalism, the continuing process of rethinking, rewriting, and recreating the Middle Ages, is a cultural...
Journal Articles
Coming to Terms with Medievalism, European Journal of English Studies (2011)
Medievalism, the continuing reception of medieval culture in post-medieval times, has existed as an amphibolous...
Negotiating Heritage: Observations on Semantic Concepts, Temporality, and the Centre of the Study of the Cultural Heritage of Medieval Rituals, Philologie im Netz (2011)
This essay is a revised version of a paper originally presented at the "Fifth Conference...
Pi(o)us Medievalism vs. Catholic Modernism: The Case of George Tyrell, The Year's Work in Medievalism (2010)
Investigates the use of "medievalism" by George Tyrell in his book, Medievalism. A Reply to...
The Colony Writes Back: F. N. Robinson’s Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1933) and the Translatio of Chaucer Studies to the United States, Studies in Medievalism (2010)
Medievalitas Fugit: Medievalism and Temporality, Studies in Medievalism (2009)
Book Chapters
A Moveable Feast: Repositionings of ‘The Medieval’ in Medieval Studies, Medievalism, and Neomedievalism, Neo-medievalism in the Media: Essays on Film, Television, and Electronic Games (2012)
Serves as Preface to the volume and frames, together with Terry Jones's "Epilogue," the fully-fledged...
Bernhard ten Brink and German English Studies in Lotharingia, Cahier Calin: Makers of the Middle Ages. Essays in Honour of William Calin (2011)
Clemen Among the Chaucerians: Towards a Reception History of Der junge Chaucer, Clemen im Kontext. Ein Beitrag zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte vor und nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg (2009)
This essay investigates the genesis and reception of Wolfgang Clemen's influential book, Der junge Chaucer...
Englische Philologie vs. English Studies: A Foundational Conflict, Das Potential europäischer Philologien. Geschichte, Leistung, Funktion (2009)
Writing Alternative Worlds: Rituals of Authorship in Late Medieval Theological and Literary Discourse, Creations: Medieval Rituals, the Arts, and the Concept of Creation (2007)
Entries Encyclopedias & Handbooks
Literary Nominalism, Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (2010)
Medievalism, Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (2010)
Reviews
Review of The Post-Historical Middle Ages, Ed. Elizabeth Scala and Sylvia Federico, Journal of English and Germanic Philology (2011)
The front cover of this essay collection gives equal space to a picture of Karl...
Review of: Die Deutsche Griselda: Transformationen einer literarischen Figuration von Boccaccio bis zur Moderne, ed. Achim Aurnhammer and Hans-Jochen Schiewer, The Medieval Review (2011) (2011)
This collection of seventeen essays reveals the beginnings and longue durée of the German-language reception...
Review of: Mapping Medievalism on the Canadian Frontier, ed. Kathryn Brush (2011)
In 2012 it will be 20 years that I attended my first Medievalism conference at...
Review of: Renate Haas and Albert Hamm, The University of Strasbourg and the Foundation of Continental English Studies (2009), Prolepsis: The Heidelberg Review of English Studies (2010)
At first sight, the title of this book, repeated on the cover and title pages...
Varia
In Memoriam Karl Heinz Göller (May 13, 1924 - April 22, 2009), Perspicuitas (2010)
Eulogy on academic teacher, adviser, and mentor; founding dean of the College of Languages and...
Osnabrück Declaration on the Potential of European Philologies, Geschichte der Germanistik: Mitteilungen (2007)
English translation, by Richard Utz, of Christoph König's summary statement based on the 2006 conference,...
Otto Gründler: In Memoriam (1928-2004), Perspicuitas (2005)
Eulogy on Director of the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University.
Peter von Kastl: Seine Übersetzung der Consolatio Philosophiae des spätrömischen Philosophen Boethius, Oberpfälzer Heimat (1993)
German translation, by Richard Utz, of a conference paper by N. H. Kaylor, “Peter von...