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Rachel Halverson

School Director, Professor of German

Office

330 Administration Building

Phone

208-885-8995

Mailing Address

School of Global Studies
University of Idaho
875 Perimeter Drive MS 3174
Moscow, Idaho 83844-3174

  • Ph.D. in German Literature, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, May 1989. Dissertation: Historiography and Fiction: Siegfried Lenz and theHistorikerstreit
  • M.A. in German Literature, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, May1985. Thesis: “Stefan Heym’s ‘Das Wachsmuth-Syndrom’: A Text-Linguistic Analysis” and “A Re-Analysis of Gretchen’s Role in Faust I
  • B.A. in German and International Relations summa cum laude, Departmental Honors, Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, May 1983.

Rachel Halverson specializes in post-war and post-unification German literature and culture and has published on the Historikerstreit, and the works of:

  • Siegfried Lenz,
  • Jurek Becker
  • Thomas Brussig
  • Günter de Bruyn
  • Martina Hefter
  • Wolfgang Hilbig
  • Tobias Hülswitt
  • Hanna Johansen
  • Hermann Kant
  • Judith Kuckart.

Narrative Theory 

In addition to journal articles and book chapters, she has co-edited three anthologies:

  • Textual Responses to German Unification (Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2001) and Berlin
  • The Symphony Continues (Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2004) co-edited with Carol Anne Costabile-Heming and Kristie Foell
  • Taking Stock of German Studies in the United States: The New Millennium (Camden House, 2015) co-edited with Costabile-Heming.

She is deeply committed to furthering the study of German in the United States on the secondary and post-secondary levels and was a member of the Goethe Institute Trainernetzwerk from 2001 until 2018 when this initiative was discontinued.

Books

  • Historiography and Fiction: Siegfried Lenz and the 'Historikerstreit.' Published in the German Life and Civilization series. Ed. Jost Hermand.  New York:  Lang, 1990.

Edited Books

  • Taking Stock of German Studies in the United States: The New Millennium. Ed. Rachel J. Halverson and Carol Anne Costabile-Heming. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2015.
  • Berlin. The Symphony Continues: Orchestrating Architectural, Social and Artistic Change in Germany's New Capital. Ed. Carol Anne Costabile-Heming, Rachel J. Halverson, and Kristie Foell. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2004.
  • Textual Responses to German Unification: Processing Historical and Social Change in Literature and Film. Ed. Carol Anne Costabile-Heming, Rachel J. Halverson, and Kristie Foell. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001.

Select Articles and Book Chapters

  • “Reading Literature in the Digital Age: Connecting Students to Texts Orally and Aurally.” Co-authored with Dr. Carol Anne Costabile-Heming. Unterrichtspraxis. 56:2 (2023): 131-141. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12260
  • "Jakob’s Story in Fiction and Film: Narrating Truths and Lies in Jakob der Lügner (1974) and Jakob the Liar (1999).” Literature/Film Quarterly. 48:3 (2020).
  • “Follow-the-Leader: Tracing Male Influence on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens.” Realities and Fantasies of German Female Leadership: From Maria Antonia of Saxony to Angela Merkel. Eds. Patricia A. Simpson and Elisabeth Krimmer. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2019. 225-242.
  • “Narrating the Twenty-First Century: Tobias Hülswitt’s Exploration of Nonlinearity and Transmediality.” German Life and Letters. 71:1 (2018): 67-88.
  • “Becoming a Writer in the Digital Age: German Author Tobias Hülswitt’s Path from Published Author to Performance Intellectual.” Pacific Coast Philology 51.2 (2016). 177-194.
  • “New Media Texte für die Millennials im DaF Unterricht.Co-authored with Dr. Pennylynn Dystra-Prium. Unterrichtspraxis 48.2 (2015): 255-274.
  • EIKK: A Case for Professional Development.” Taking Stock of German Studies in the United States: The New Millennium. Ed. Rachel J. Halverson and Carol Anne Costabile-Heming. Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2015. 104-113.
  • “The New German Lesbarkeit in Action: Narrative and Context in Martina Hefter’s Zurück auf Los.” Symposium 64.2 (2010): 73-88.
  • “Living in the Moment, Reflecting on the Past: Exploring Loss, Language and Identity in Martina Hefter’s Zurück auf Los and Die Küsten der Berge.” “Wenn sie das Wort ich gebraucht." Festschrift für Barbara Becker-Cantarino von SchülerInnen, KollegInnen, und StudentInnen. Eds. Jacqueline Vansant and John Pustejovsky. Chloe. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2013.

Interviews

  • Hülswitt, Tobias. “»Das war wie der Eintritt in ein anderes Universum, eine andere Zeit, ein anderes Selbst«.” Interview by Rachel J. Halverson. Kritische Ausgabe: Zeitschrift für Literatur im Dialog 37 (2021). 12-19. (Peer Reviewed)
  • Hülswitt, Tobias. “Über das Schriftstellerdasein im 21. Jahrhundert – Interview mit Tobias Hülswitt, Autor des Romans Dinge bei Licht, Blogger, und Performance-Intellektueller.” Interview  and one-page introduction by Rachel J. Halverson. Glossen 41 (2016). August 2016. http://blogs.dickinson.edu/glossen/glossen-41-august-2016/

Translations

  • Hülswitt, Tobias. “Granular.” Introduction and translation by Rachel J. Halverson. Delos 34:1 (2019): 21-27.
  • Hülswitt, Tobias. “Angel Pool.” Introduction and translation by Rachel J. Halverson. Delos 32 (2017): 152-160.

  • Checkpoint Charlie Foundation Postsecondary Teacher Award (National), 2016
  • Continuing Service Award, Washington Association of Foreign Language Teachers (State), 2009
  • Ray Verzasconi Pacific Northwest Postsecondary Teacher of the Year Award (Regional), 2008
  • Goethe-Institut/AATG Certificate of Merit (National), 2005

School of Global Studies

Physical Address:
332 Administration Building

Mailing Address:
School of Global Studies
University of Idaho
875 Perimeter Drive MS 3174
Moscow, ID 83844-3174

Phone: 208-885-6179

Fax: 208-885-5221

Email: SGS@uidaho.edu

Web: School of Global Studies

Directions