Profile Prof. Dr. Hartwig Isernhagen
Hartwig Isernhagen finished his studies in English and German at Freiburg (Breisgau) and Cologne in 1966/7 with an M.A. and the „Staatsexamen". After a period of research at the British Museum and a year as a T.A. at the Dept.of German of the University of Pennsylvania he received a Ph.D. with a thesis on Lawrence Durrell from the University of Freiburg in 1969. In 1969/70 he served as an assistant professor of German at Thiel College (Greenville, Pa) and then was employed as a „Lektor" at the Dept. of English at Regensburg University until he got an „Assistentur" attached to the Chair of American Literature at Würzburg, which he held until 1981. In 1979 he went through the process of „Habilitation" with a book on John Dos Passos, taught for the academic year 1980/81 at the American Studies Program at Austin, Tx (Austin/Würzburg exchange) and then was appointed to the Chair of American Literature at Basel in 1981, which he held until his resignation in 2004.
As far as research and teaching are concerned, his academic activities are mirrored in the list of selected publications.They were complemented with a solid dose of administration and university politics.
After his retirement Hartwig Isernhagen curated an exhibition of Karl Bodmer's representations of Native Americans at the Nordamerika Native Museum (NONAM), Zürich (8 Feb. to 9 Aug., 2008).